Watching the Clothes

Watching the Clothes

Oh, Saturday night
Mmm, everyone's having fun
I'm down at the laundromat
Trying to get my washing done
Like I done before
Time and time again
Watching the clothes go 'round
Another week sees it's end

Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round

Oh, I've been working hard
Mmm, trying to make some money
Would you like sour cream
On your potato, honey?
I been kissing ass
Trying to keep it clean
Serving the middle class
Yeah, it's a clean routine

Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round

There go the whites
Mmm, getting whiter
There go the colors
Getting brighter
There go the delicates
Through the final rinse
There goes my Saturday night
I go without a fight

Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round
Watching the clothes go 'round

--Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders

Hwaet! Last weekend the water heater died. Yesterday the washing machine died. If bad things happen in threes, one more appliance is circling the drain. ARGH! My brother just threw in that the next thing to die will be the dishwasher. At least the washer died AFTER I felted my scarf for the local scarf contest.

With a weekend trip in the offing and clothes to be washed, I did what any other desperate person would do: I scrounged all over the house, in pockets, in decorative dishes, on my dresser for every quarter I could find.

Fortunately for me, one of the linacs at work ,went down today and I cheerfully volunteered to take one for the team and go home. I had an ulterior motive; daylight hours at a public laundromat might be slightly less scary than after dark. (I also have knitting group this weekend and idn't want to miss it! Not tonight when I turn in my scarf!!)

P asked rather insistently if I wanted him to go with--he was in protective mode. Frankly, I said yes. I had a TON of laundry (well maybe 40-50 pounds, about 4 very large loads), and he could help me carry it. So he got me settled, ran some errands and came and got me. Since the laundrette was also in the same complex as my current fave Mexican restaurant (Luzmilla's--tasty beans, really good salsa!), we got lunch and some Mexican Cokes to go. Not too bad for an afternoon.

I learned some things about modern laundromats today:

1) This one no longer use quarters. You can use any form of money you like to buy value on a card. I find this thoroughly civilized. You bring in cash and buy a card. Any money left, they'll cash out for you. Neat!
2) Front-loading machines use A LOT LESS detergent than their top-loading cousins. I found this out the hard way. I couple of tablespoonfuls will do. This begs another question: am I oversoaping my wash at home? I bet I am.
3) Watching clothes in a front loading washer is almost as soothing as watching a fishtank.
4) My local laundromat has free wi-fi, so if I go again I can bring my laptop and surf.
5) The local laundry place also has ultra large capacity machines--double, triple or quadruple load sizes, so now I know where I can go to wash my king-sized comforter.

All useful information, I think!

I am drying my duds at home as I blog this. I only spent an hour washing all my stuff. One load had to be run twice at the laundrette, since I got medieval with the soap, and I re-ran it to rinse it more. The kind people there let me do it for free--can't beat that with a stick for service!!

Well, there goes the dryer--another load bites the dust...