Visit my etsy shop

Monday, March 07, 2011

The Laundromat - Part 1 -

Since the 5th of January, I've been doing my clothes at the Laundromat.

Janne came here for the Christmas holidays and on the evening that he was leaving, he asks if we could do a small load of wash so that he won't have to bring home any dirty clothes and believe me when you do the trip from here to Montreal, cross the ocean and 2 more airports before arriving in your country and then after that another 3 hours before you get home, you arrive so exhausted even the thought of taking a shower is too tiring. Once you wake up the jet lag hits you and you walk around in what appears to be a drunken stupor and the last thing you want to be faced with is a suitcase full of stinky clothes.

So, although I wished he would have asked the day before, I do agree it's a good idea and put the clothes into the washer. The water runs and I put in the soap and I go upstairs and we have dinner and then I go down and what is waiting for me? A washer full of wet and soapy clothes that doesn't want to spin, it doesn't want to do a small twirl, it doesn't want to do anything at all! Oh, geez.. everything is soaking wet and in 5 hours Janne is on a bus to Montreal and here we are stuck with a broken washing machine.  I'm not very happy because now I've got to go to the laundromat and get this wash done and I would rather spend our last evening together doing something slightly more fun and romantic.

When I get to the laundromat, it is around 7 o'clock and there is a lot of people. I first need to get quarters and then I would hope just to rinse and spin them but no, there is no way to break the  cycle. It's a one or nothing deal. So I rewash everything and then I dry them there as the machines are big and dry much faster than my dryer.

That evening at the laundromat included a bit of drama. The machines are at one end and towards of the front are a few folding tables and right next to the door is a small table with 4 attached seats which appear to be thrown out of a restaurant like McDonalds.  At the back are a couple of young girls doing wash together, then a few couples with children and at the front, at this little table next to the door are 2 guys drinking beer.  At first I didn't realize it was beer but one of them had spilled it all over the the table and floor and  the suds from far made it look white but as the bubbles died down, you could see the clear yellow liquid. They are not doing wash, but it is cold outside so they have come in to drink their beer here.  It is not their first beer, it may be their eighth or their twelfth or more as far as I know; I can now see they are pissed drunk.

Everyone is sort of minding their own business and going about doing their wash when these two start fighting . They start yelling at each other and I can't tell you what was being said as it was probably in Cree but it was clearly an argument.  They both get up, one holding himself steady with the table and the other simply drops his bag full of king-size beers and then  proceeds to fall right on it.  There is beer and broken glass everywhere and he doesn't appear to be hurt but has broken glass all over his coat. Normally if someone would fall down, your first instinct is to go to their aid, but I'm frozen in my spot as not only are they drunk, they are angry.

The laundromat is attached to a convenience store and the woman working comes in and
very calmly tells them to leave.  I was quite impressed. This is obviously not the first time that she's dealt with this type of situation. She knows how to keep it under control. She talks with confidence and authority but not harshly. She doesn't scream and does not seem excited. She tells them that she has called the police and that they will be there in a few moments and that they should now leave. She even shows compassion when she tells the man that is attempting to get up to watch out and  to not hurt himself getting up, to be careful of the glass and to please leave before the cops get there.  She took a bad situation that could easily have gotten seriously out-of-control and snuffed out that fire.  They left and everyone let out a huge sigh of relief. Sadly for her, it was not quite over; she was left with their mess to clean up.

Basically, my washing machine was  kaput and to fix it would  cost too much as it is already very old, so, although this bit of brouhaha, I decided to return  here until I have enough money to afford a new machine. but to come earlier in the day when there is less chance of drama.

To stop this from becoming a novella,  I'm going to stop this for today and come back in a day or two to continue my laundromat experience. :-)

oh, I've also taken a pretty photo of some raspberries as they were too beautiful to consume without showing them off a bit.  Taken on my kitchen counter with a bit of black construction board behind.... who says you need a studio?



0 comments: