laundry day

My washing machine decided it could no longer handle the rinse cycle. It freezes up in a sudden panic with the basket still filled with soapy water and refuses to continue.

So yesterday I took my first visit to a laundromat in 12 years. At the time I was living with my ex in an apartment and I took our clothes every Saturday to a place on the corner. I would load up the washing machines and then walk next door and get a pastry and a coffee which I would eat while reading the paper. Once the wash was transfered to the dryers there would be another break until I had to start folding. Not too bad a chore actually.

Yesterday's experience was even nicer. A big laundromat, clean, and practically empty. The attendant, a small latino man, younger than me, noticed me reading the machine instructions and asked if it was my first time there. I said it was and then he explained how to operate the machince and gave me my first wash free. I had time to have a cup of coffee and read the paper, just as 12 years ago, and listen to Spanish love songs on the sound system, accompanied by a video game machine playing an endless loop of electronic "Baby Elephant Walk."

The washer repair man comes on Monday