Thursday, August 28, 2008

Getting the laundry done

What else does one do on one's almost last day of the holidays- that's it the laundry!

Actually it isn't all that difficult just time consuming and an opportunity to compare life here in NYC with that of life in Aireys Inlet.

The process for doing the laundry is not as simple as in Aireys Inlet because here it involves catching the elevator to the RP level ( second floor US; first floor Australia) and there awaiting your undone laundry are the approximately 20 washing machines. Today as usually happens mid week the "maids" from other apartments had filled most of the machines. Yet another difference!



Thank goodness we don't have to use coins- at least with coins though you can see how many you have sometimes once we've got to the laundry we find that there isn't enough on the card and so it is a rather fraught trip back up to the apartment to get the credit card to refill the laundry card. Fraught because the elevators seem to take an age and fraught because you can never tell if someone else isn't going to come down and assume you have finished your wash and piff it out of the machine.



Once the wash is on it's back to the apartment to utilize the 39 minutes it takes to wash. The danger is one gets caught up in the joy of other housework (not likely) or some other activity so this little vegemite sets the timer on the microwave so that I can get back down to the laundry and get it all in the dryer/s.

Unfortunately there is no chance that I could hang the washing out in the sunshine and fresh air so the dryer it is.
Part of an additional problem is that the dryers require longer than the washing machines so there can be a backlog. And as a fellow resident mentioned to me people tend to forget the time (not as efficient as we who use the microwave timer!).
Some of the buildings apartments are leased to companies and non long term residents use the washing facilities and apparently it is not uncommon for people to leave the city and their laundry in the machines.








I'm not sure whether it is cause and effect (laundry left in machines- recycle bin) but we now have a very large trolley/ bin for recycling clothes.

4 comments:

Barb said...

Thanks for you insight into the Aussie laundry. I love to see the differences between there and here. Keep blgging! Love it!

Terry said...

Wow--what a laundromat!!

Anke said...

What an account on laundry. I can't believe the stuff you make into stories. I love it!!! Keep it coming

Carol said...

Give me my washing machine and clothes line any day lol.

When we go to USA / Canada we are always leaving clothes in the dryer and I do wonder what happens to them.

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