I'm the girl who grew up in a HOUSE. A very large old Victorian house. It was not at all luxurious but it was a home and we had everything we needed within the house to perform our normal chores. Having a washing machine in the house was something I always took for granted. Doing laundry was something that didn't require being dressed and wearing shoes. Now, I live in an APARTMENT. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not been blessed with the finances to be a buyer. This continues to be a huge "bee in my bonnet" as it were. For some warped reason I measure my success in life against not having a washing machine on premises. At my age, renting is symbolic to me of failure, of not being able to achieve more for myself but that is for another discussion. Yes, it's pretty harsh to think this way and yes I am beating myself up for something I really shouldn't be but, well, I AM a fussbudget so what else do you expect here?
I have lived in the same apartment for many years and I must say that, thankfully, the ratio of laundromats to everything else is seriously high. I can only surmise that this must be a good business to get into. As a matter of fact, talking about this here this is making me seriously consider looking into buying a laundromat instead of a home.
Anyhoo, I do my laundry almost every weekend. For this reason I have a fairly containable small load. Over the years I have noticed that the laundromat is a place that is ripe with possibilities. There, you can play lots of games in your head to pass the time and this is what I do to make this chore a little more interesting.
The people in the Laundromat are where the fun comes in. Of course, the following scenarios are completely fabricated and only within my head. For example: Here is a young mother with four kids attached to her hip. She has 6 washers going and an assembly line on the table of folding. I imagine her "husband"Luis, (I never let myself imagine there might not be one) to be working a late shift somewhere at a restaurant trying to support his huge family. Sometimes he stays out late drinking with his friends from work after a tough night and this angers his wife. This young mother ,"Julia", spends all her time doing household chores and chasing her children, Roberto 3, Miguel 5, Gina 7 and little Gladys 2 . She occasionally mentions to Luis that she could use his help but he shoots back with the fact that he is out 7 days a week breaking his back to support her and the kids. The argument ends there. Usually after this discord Luis may bring home some perfume he bought for her from a guy outside the train station on the way home to show her he does care. Seeing her makes me feel partly sad that I am alone without children. The sense of family is something I don't have. Then, after much screaming and misbehaving the predominant part of me feels relieved that I am not in her shoes. I am also slightly annoyed that she always takes up and entire row of washers and all I want is one measly machine.
Then there is the "single guy". If his socks are gray, I know he is totally single. If they are white, there was probably a woman involved somewhere or he may be gay. Sometimes he scopes me out if I am alone. This man is lonely or horny and has clearly read someplace that Barnes and Noble, the grocery store, Church activities and the laundromat are excellent places to meet single women. This makes me feel creepy. Especially when I am sorting through my "dainties" and he is taking it in.
Then there is the elderly couple. This is a major endeavor for them. At this point in life, they are down to washing things out in the sink but there are just some things that really never get clean that way and that is where the laundromat comes in. There is an elderly couple I see on occasion and I actually know for a fact (through a VRS, very reliable source) that he was a cab driver and she was a waitress. They are like something out of a Billy Joel song about old NYC. He wears his pants up to his neck with an old overcoat no matter what the season and she has flaming red (Miss Clairol at this point) hair and heavily drawn in eyebrows that say....I'm still trying to maintain. They are both extremely cranky and have a short fuse. Their facial expressions and body language say "get us the hell out of this godforsaken place". I am well trained not to go near their washer or dryer because they immediately jump up as if they are being threatened in some way.
We also have the young couple. I always imagine them to be newly in love or having gone to some sort of counseling session that suggested making chores a time for togetherness to avoid resentments.
Lastly we have the single woman. It's not apparent that she is single till you take note that there are no boxers or sports jerseys in her pile of clothes. She would be me. I am going to leave out the speculating here because I can only imagine the stories of women like this and fyi NO..... I do not have 7 cats that I dress up,and I am not there to meet my prince charming.
The thing that really skeeves me about the laundromat is washing my clothing in the washers that hundreds before me have. Is it possible that the remnants of someones misfortune or horrible deed are on my skivvies? Did that single guy murder his roommate in a drunken brawl last night and roll him up in that comforter just before he dumped the body somewhere undetectable? I cannot let myself go there even though I have on occasion when I am completely zoned out and my imagination is working overtime.
So the next time you are at the laundromat if you are so inclined to be there, look around you. There are a million stories waiting to be told.
That's all for now :)
I have lived in the same apartment for many years and I must say that, thankfully, the ratio of laundromats to everything else is seriously high. I can only surmise that this must be a good business to get into. As a matter of fact, talking about this here this is making me seriously consider looking into buying a laundromat instead of a home.
Anyhoo, I do my laundry almost every weekend. For this reason I have a fairly containable small load. Over the years I have noticed that the laundromat is a place that is ripe with possibilities. There, you can play lots of games in your head to pass the time and this is what I do to make this chore a little more interesting.
The people in the Laundromat are where the fun comes in. Of course, the following scenarios are completely fabricated and only within my head. For example: Here is a young mother with four kids attached to her hip. She has 6 washers going and an assembly line on the table of folding. I imagine her "husband"Luis, (I never let myself imagine there might not be one) to be working a late shift somewhere at a restaurant trying to support his huge family. Sometimes he stays out late drinking with his friends from work after a tough night and this angers his wife. This young mother ,"Julia", spends all her time doing household chores and chasing her children, Roberto 3, Miguel 5, Gina 7 and little Gladys 2 . She occasionally mentions to Luis that she could use his help but he shoots back with the fact that he is out 7 days a week breaking his back to support her and the kids. The argument ends there. Usually after this discord Luis may bring home some perfume he bought for her from a guy outside the train station on the way home to show her he does care. Seeing her makes me feel partly sad that I am alone without children. The sense of family is something I don't have. Then, after much screaming and misbehaving the predominant part of me feels relieved that I am not in her shoes. I am also slightly annoyed that she always takes up and entire row of washers and all I want is one measly machine.
Then there is the "single guy". If his socks are gray, I know he is totally single. If they are white, there was probably a woman involved somewhere or he may be gay. Sometimes he scopes me out if I am alone. This man is lonely or horny and has clearly read someplace that Barnes and Noble, the grocery store, Church activities and the laundromat are excellent places to meet single women. This makes me feel creepy. Especially when I am sorting through my "dainties" and he is taking it in.
Then there is the elderly couple. This is a major endeavor for them. At this point in life, they are down to washing things out in the sink but there are just some things that really never get clean that way and that is where the laundromat comes in. There is an elderly couple I see on occasion and I actually know for a fact (through a VRS, very reliable source) that he was a cab driver and she was a waitress. They are like something out of a Billy Joel song about old NYC. He wears his pants up to his neck with an old overcoat no matter what the season and she has flaming red (Miss Clairol at this point) hair and heavily drawn in eyebrows that say....I'm still trying to maintain. They are both extremely cranky and have a short fuse. Their facial expressions and body language say "get us the hell out of this godforsaken place". I am well trained not to go near their washer or dryer because they immediately jump up as if they are being threatened in some way.
We also have the young couple. I always imagine them to be newly in love or having gone to some sort of counseling session that suggested making chores a time for togetherness to avoid resentments.
Lastly we have the single woman. It's not apparent that she is single till you take note that there are no boxers or sports jerseys in her pile of clothes. She would be me. I am going to leave out the speculating here because I can only imagine the stories of women like this and fyi NO..... I do not have 7 cats that I dress up,and I am not there to meet my prince charming.
The thing that really skeeves me about the laundromat is washing my clothing in the washers that hundreds before me have. Is it possible that the remnants of someones misfortune or horrible deed are on my skivvies? Did that single guy murder his roommate in a drunken brawl last night and roll him up in that comforter just before he dumped the body somewhere undetectable? I cannot let myself go there even though I have on occasion when I am completely zoned out and my imagination is working overtime.
So the next time you are at the laundromat if you are so inclined to be there, look around you. There are a million stories waiting to be told.
That's all for now :)
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