It's a cool, crisp morning here in Pittsburgh...a perfect autumn day. Pirate baseball this afternoon, Steeler football tonight, Sunday dinner and the Laundromat.
Such an interesting study in human nature. It's that time of the year where I do all of the heavy bed linens. I could do them at home, but they put a burden on my washer and dryer, so with quarters in my pocket, laundry detergent and bleach in hand, I head for the local Laundromat. Don't know why spell check capitalizes that word, but it does.
It's early on Sunday when I leave home and arrive at the facility. Drag everything into the not so clean building (shouldn't a Laundromat be clean?). It appears to be empty, but there are clothes in washers and dryers already. A gentleman comes in and speaks to me. Being a friendly kind of person, I say hello to him. He looks vaguely familiar, and I am not privy to Laundromat etiquette, so I think this is the proper thing to do.
He explains that he had does his wash last night. Apparently one leaves their laundry and goes home to wait for it, then comes back later to put it in the dryer. He fell asleep, so his laundry sat in the washer all night. He had come in earlier to put it in the dryer and after testing it, decided it needed another six minutes to dry.
The Laundromat has a movie running. I'm not sure if it is the same movie or if someone switches it at will. There is a table with magazines on it talking about the 2008 election. And three broken chairs. The man remarks that a girl (he is about 50) took him to see a Steve Martin movie called The Jerk. He asked me if I though she was giving him a message. I told him I hadn't seen the movie, so didn't feel qualified to respond. He went on to tell me that Steve Martin used to be quite famous and asked me what my favorite movie was/is. That's a tough one, because after I watch a movie, I forget the title immediately. So, I told him War Horse. He nodded, said he hadn't seen it yet.
We seemed, at that point, to run out of chit chat, so I told him I had to go get more quarters. When I came back, he had made a new friend and my wash was done, so it was time for the dryer. By this time, the Laundromat was filled to capacity. People folding laundry, people chatting with one another, just a happy, happy place to be on a Sunday morning. A communal cleaning of clothes, if you will. Everyone in a good mood...in part I am sure because of the Pirates win last night. I have stopped watching the Pirates. Too anxiety producing. After the game on Friday night, for which I took much teasing about at work, I felt it was time again for a break. I wish them all the best, and I hope we do it, but I just can't watch right now.
Laundry finished, back home to enjoy the rest of the day. Clean bedspreads, clean blankets. I have to go to the library this afternoon . I read my last book in record time...3 days. One of those that I couldn't put down.
I hope your Sunday is filled with good things to get your week off to a good start. And thoughts to all of those in Colorado, including my nephew and his wife. They are not affected by the floods, but to those that are, my thoughts are with you. I cannot imagine the anguish of having your home and memories washed away.
