Laundry time

I never liked doing laundry. The whole exercise of sorting out dirty clothes, putting them in different baskets and washing them is such a time consuming exercise. I remember as a child how my mother used to sort out the coloured and white clothes before soaking them in warm water with a liberal sprinkling of "SURF" powder. I used to then stand on the clothes in the bucket and dance on them so that the clothes are well soaked. The warm water felt good on my feet. My mother used to warn me to be careful when getting off the bucket lest I slip and fall. The maid used to come and use "RIN" soap to wash the clothes, carefully dry them on the line and put the clothes clip to prevent clothes from flying. We lived in a house than had a common courtyard(5 houses shared the courtyard) in the rear of the house. It used to be fun playing hide and seek, hiding behind the clothes from 5 different households. After the clothes were dry in the hot sun, I used to help Mom to bring the clothes inside. The smell of those dry clothes was so nice and folding was just so easy.

When we went to the US, it was funny not be able to dry clothes by just hanging them outside. Using the dryer was the only option. I never ever learnt the knack of setting the right temperature for the dryer. Either the clothes remained wet or the tore due to high heat. So I just used to dry the lighter clothes under the ceiling fan. Well now, even though I have washing machine at home, I found out that it is easier washing at the Laundromat. You spend 2 hours and all your washing is done in one shot. I also take my daughter along, who happily comes because of the acquarium in the laundromat and the "candy' vending machine. We spend time talking to each other when the washing is on. After the clothes are dried in the dryer, she helps with folding the clothes. So when we are back home, we just need to put them in the cupboard. I missed to tell you about something - there is a coffee vending machine in the laundromat, well the coffee is awful to taste but nevertheless feels good to sip on during those two hours in the laundromat.