Rub-a-Dub-Dub
Welcome to my random musings about the world, on a weekly-to-occasional basis.
Where we are: We’re on the island of Lewis. It’s my favorite of the four Hebridean islands we’ve been to. Lee says I tend to like wherever I am the best, but that is not true, and I am definitely smitten with Lewis.
Rub-a-Dub-Dub
How often do you do laundry? I bet someone in your home does it pretty frequently. Back when we had a normal home, I tried to do all of ours on Sundays: sheets, towels, lights, darks, delicates, kids, sports gear. Our washer and dryer ran all day, and I’d spend every Sunday evening folding, and yelling at people to come get their clothes and put them away (no, that does not mean on the floor!).
Everybody does laundry, and I do mean everybody. Maybe it’s not a priority in war zones? I don’t know. But everywhere I’ve been, all over the world, people wash their clothes. If you have machines to do it for you, and water and electricity to run those machines, you’re lucky. Not everyone does. Nonetheless, they find ways to get their clothes clean.
Some people go to a laundromat. Some people use a service. Some people require the maid to wash everything by hand (true story). Some people pound their clothes on a rock in the nearest river (also a true story).
It’s the one thing that’s universal.
Lee and I, being normal people with an unusual lifestyle, also do laundry regularly. At least once a week; usually more like every five days or so. Sometimes we’re in an apartment or hotel with a washer—that’s our favorite. Sometimes we go to a laundromat—that’s our next favorite (okay, my next favorite). But much of the time, we have no choice but to use a service (Lee’s second favorite). And that’s fine too; it just requires a bit of planning. (If you time it wrong, you can wind up having to wear the same unmentionables two days in a row. Do not do this.)
Because so many of the people we interact with are on vacation, we find that they’re often surprised when we say we have to go do laundry. It happens a lot: we’re at the hotel breakfast, or having snacks in the lounge, or on a tour of some monument, or even hanging out with friends and family who come to visit us. Eventually, the topic of laundry comes up, because it’s such a constant, frequent problem that we have to solve.
My favorite is when someone says, with an air of superiority or self-sufficiency or what’s-wrong-with-you-just-be-like-me, that they’re just going to wash a few things in the sink.
That’s great—good for you. But I bet when you get home, you’re going to dump that whole suitcase of clothes into the washer.
Because everyone does laundry.
Take care,
Lisa
P.S. Thanks for reading, and feel free to share. If you have feedback, I’d love to hear it. And if someone forwarded this to you, thank them for me, and go to https://bookwoman.com/ to subscribe.