Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Last Load of Laundry

Not just a great alliteration, "the last load of laundry" is also the horror story that happened to me last night. Finals finally gave me a break and I had some time to do my laundry. So I could continue to wear clothes. I think that's a good idea, so I loaded my darks into the washer, added the detergent, paid my quarters and walked away. When I returned, all my clothes were sopping wet and of course only two of the dryers were working. Neither of them were available. I proceeded to squeeze what water I could back into the washer, but soon the pants I'm wearing have water stains dripping down them and everything in the basket is still soaked.

So I tried a new tactic. I carried everything back to my apartment, which is up two small flights of stairs and at the other end of the building. Little known fact: when wet, laundry is heavy. Also, the holes in a laundry basket are a great way for additional water to drip out onto the carrier. I stopped after one flight of stairs, ran down the hall in my water stained pants, and grabbed a towel to put under the basket. This technique worked okay, but I still had to wring out what I could when I returned to the apartment. In the kitchen sink. Luckily, it wasn't full of dishes.

Two hours later, I'm still waiting for a dryer, so I give up and carry everything to the neighboring building with the help of a few roommates. I'm feeling relieved, thinking that everything will get dry. An hour and a half later, the dryer has barely made a dent in the sogginess of my wardrobe. So I separate it into two different dryers and put both loads in for another hour. And when that's done, it's one o'clock in the morning, and guess what? It's still not dry. I know when I've been defeated. The laundry gods have decided that I do not, in fact, need to continue wearing clothes. As I write this today, I have two basketsfull of laundry in various states of dampness.

The clincher: I still need to do both my whites and my towels. Wish me luck; I have a feeling I'll need it.

5 comments:

  1. Ouch. I've had this happen to me carry laundry from the upstairs bathroom in a basket to the dryer, which is, like, 10 steps, and still a pain. Sorry for the wet clothes. Happy for the new book title, "Adventres in Laundry"

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  2. WOw, I just spelled that the French way...adventres' instead of adventures...call me 'les imcompetant'

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  3. I hated the laundry facilities at the apartment complex not to be named.

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  4. I've had the same problem before. Though of course the washer I chose for my whites worked perfectly fine and the one I put my darks in decided not to drain. And the dryers at my apartment complex are the pits too. Can't wait to see you when you get home! If I'm ever not working some night we need to do something!

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  5. Grrrrr. Curses to the apartment complex laundry facilities. The worst. Like you have nothing better to do. Hope to see you soon.

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