Good bye, Soap Opera

S has been viewed as one who isn't too mechanically inclined - and he isn't.  Neither am I, but as a female, it's not typically an identity marker.  I'm generally praised for what little I can do when I use something out of a toolbox, whereas he was once given one for Christmas along with the words, "This is really for Ann."  I was so happy to have a toolbox that I didn't make the connection - it'd be like someone giving me a cookbook, saying 'This is really for S."  It would actually be in better hands in his than in mine, but I would have been rather insulted.

All that to say that S has done an amazing job solving our laundry dilemma.  With the basement stairwell in our temporary home too narrow to fit our normal-sized washer or dryer, they'd been sitting on the back porch until the recent change in weather.  They're now in the dining room, along with the other furniture items that won't fit upstairs or down (the bed frame, bookshelf, and our two chest of drawers).  Fortunately we have a small kitchen table or we'd be in trouble.   Even more fortunate, S rigged up pipes through the air vent system into the basement and a hose into the kitchen sink in order to make use of our washing machine.  Hooray!  It was a frustrating process of finding the right parts and having pipes and fittings that wouldn't quite tighten, but he did it!

And so, my weekly journey to the laundromat has come to an end.  Which in terms of cost, is great. Doing 4 or 5  large loads at $2.75 is an expense not really budgeted for.  And that's just the washing.  I've been doing a combo of hanging clothes to dry on the line and small loads in an apartment-sized dryer I'd bought off Kijiji.  But I must say that the Soap Opera Laundromat has character and is actually a rather fun place to spend an evening. Friendly staff, interesting people to chat with and a super clean interior with some old-fashioned style.  If not for the price and inconvenience, it'd be good place to meet some new folks in my neighbourhood (the one to be, not the one we're in right now).

To have a (working) machine in the home again is a nice gift in time for Thanksgiving weekend and a reminder of one of the many conveniences to be thankful for.  It did, however, make me wonder how many people in the world have access to washing machines.  Rather wish I hadn't asked, but here's a thought-provoking YouTube video with the answer:  Hans Rosling and the Magic Washing Machine.  Worth watching, I think.