Squiggle, my washing machine is a Zanussi and I've never had problems with it so I think you've made a good choice 
I hope you can find what you are looking for in the carpet samples.
So far it looks as if I'm the only person here where the weather has remained dry so far though I wouldn't be surprised if it did rain sometime. I delivered my round of the February church magazines earlier and there's a cold easterly wind and tomorrow is forecast to be the coldest day this year so far. It's unlikely to snow though in my area but it could snow elsewhere. It's only cold for the one day then it's back to more rain on Friday.