Friday, June 5, 2009

Such a Long, Long, Long Time Before the Dawn

It's been a long time coming, but the Festival of Laundry has commenced!

Look! Here's the escrime (fencing) gear. At last. I don't feel bad washing it every other class, but this had gone three weeks. Three. Warm. Sweaty. Weeks.

Poor Baboo.

The floor of the bathroom looks like something exploded.

A friend of mine commented that laundry was one of the easier household chores: "You just put in the clothes and go sit down and do something else."

For hours and hours.

If you have never done laundry outside the North American continent, foreign washing machines are really, REALLY SLOW.

I remember the first few times I did laundry in Buenos Aires.

It took for freaking ever.

I kept coming back to the machine to check that it was, indeed, still even on. And I vividly recall a conversation with another American expat about laundry. "The machine just kept going and going and going," he said, horrified. "It just didn't stop."

This new machine has 11 different programs. The wash cycle times range from 30 minutes ("delicate colors and all types of slightly soiled garments") to 155 minutes ("extremely soiled whites, sheets, tablecloths, etc.").

One. Hundred. And. Fifty-five. Minutes.

That's over two and a half hours. Including a pre-wash cycle. But not including drying time.

This might take a while.

Speaking of time, I took the following pictures yesterday. Can you guess what time it was?

The amount of traffic might give you a clue.

This one should help a lot.

Any idea?

I took all those pictures at 10:15 in the p.m. Because I looked up and realized how weirdly light it was outside. It's the season: weirdly long days and pukh (Stalin snow).

6 comments:

valentina said...

Oh the glorious sound of a purring washer! Can't you just wash everything but cat peed upon rugs on the 30 minute cyle? I mean how dirty does stuff get? Not including Baboo's Escrime stuff that has been sweated in for 3 weeks...

It's not like you have a pack of dirty little children with mud soaked socks and jeans and grass stain to contend with! And nor do I!

I usually wash everything of mine on light. I mean, even underwear... as long as the washer isn't packed too full it all seems clean in a light cycle and with less wash wear and tear on my garments. And especially for darks when you don't want them to get all washed out...

What on earth could possibly need a 155 minute cycle after all? Maybe clothes you'd been camping in all week with no bathing or swimming and lots of rolling around in the mud...
But that's hardly the case for you... And I don't suspect that either you or Ron have been under the car changing oil and doing heavy mechanics either!! So I would think a half an hour light cycle would be adequate!? And especially with so many, many loads to do!!

And your drying rack seems fully occupied and nary a cat in sight!! So how long will it take Crooky to turn one of the garments into a hammock?

The sun is coming up here now as 6 am approaches and Valentina is at the office window making the little squeak that Mimi calls the kitty cat "death rattle" which she does when the bird song begins its crescendo!!

So I will bid you buona notte and go to bed and leave you to your happily cleanly laundered clothing to fold and put away. And get those girls to ironing this weekend!

Oops, it's Baboo's birthday weekend, hardly an opportune time for ironing chores... a Special Dispensation is in order I suspect! She should be very happy to have a stack of neatly folded clean knickers and socks and shirt and pants on her bed and her freshly laundered escrime attire as a precursor of the magic age of Eleven years old!!!

More eventually! xov

The Flip Side. . .Or Maybe Not said...

I feel the same way whenever we go to Finland. I just don't get the washing machine and it's gazillion settings. The funny dryer closet thing is another thing I am not getting. It takes ages for the clothes to dry. Dear hubby just doesn't understand my exasperation. He's given up on explaining. I don't do laundry or ironing.

Jen said...

Thank goodness it's all working!
Btw, doing the washing in Australia doesn't seem to take long. But I know what you mean about European washing machines.

The Expatresse said...

Oh Valentina: Perhaps the other mothers will join me in a big ol' belly laugh! Yes, most of the time I do the shorter cycles. But I can't get the Ring-Around-The-Collar out without using the serious Dirty Whites cycle. And I'll spare you the horrors of Little Kid Underwear . . .

Anonymous said...

You gals need a washing machine from 1960s, You wouldn't complain as much. PMS Sucks! :)
Is Baboo still In Karachi?

Anonymous said...

Louis Vuitton,LV Luggage,LV Wallets,LV Agendas,LV Belts,LV Shoes,LV Accessories,Gucci,Gucci Wallets,Gucci Shoes,Marc Jacobs handbags,Marni handbags,Miu Miu handbags,Mulberry handbags,Prada handbags,Thomaswylde handbags,TOD handbags,Bottega Veneta handbags,D&G handbags,Dior handbags,YSL handbags,Coach handbags