laundry time

My ability to rember things equals to that of a gold fish. It is a shame since I would like to remember things from my trips and life better than I do. My selective memory is rather funny. Just now when I was doing laundry my student accommodations laundry room downstairs I got several flashbacks of different laundry times in different countries. I have to ask why did these moments stick in my head and you might ask why the heck do I write about laundry to my blog. Well I guess they are just memories that I want to share.

Last time when I lived in England I lived in a staff house which smelled like old humid house. The washing machine was in a common kitchen and everybody smoked inside. We set these long strings accross our room and hang our clothes akwardly and very unconveniently in the middle of everything. We also put our pictures as decoration hanging from these strings, an idea I used also in Thailand in my bambu hut.

In Thailand I did my laundries often by hand, in a large bucket next to the outdoor kitchen where the dishes were also washed. On the floor barefoot. But there was a washing machine as well. It was outside and you could see the water inside when it was on if you wanted to see your laundries getting washed. It was always an adventure to put them dry because the strings and trees were full of red ants that hurted like hell. And they were particulary interested in our clothes. And we never got all of them when we folded the dried clothes. Or well, in Thailand they were never dry because of the humidity.

I remember clearly how humid and hot it was also in Mexico when I was taking out our laundries from the washing machine in small inner yard. I put them dry outside where it smelled like... well the smell that hot countries have, you can almost smell the sun how it burns things and plants in a city. In Mexico other option was to call a lady to do the housekeeping. She came sometimes to clean the apartment, cook and also did the laundries. With a same amount I do one laundry by myself here in UK.

In Austria... I cannot remember where I actually did the laundries! It was also a student accommodation with 5 roommates so we must have had a laundry machine somewhere... I just remember clearly how I put them dry to hangers and hang them on the walls of my room. It was the time when I was just 21 or something and all my clothes were black. I only realised that when I saw them decorating my walls.

Now in here yet again in a student hall accommodation I use common coin washing machines and dream about the time in Finland when I had my own washing machine and a small backyard where to put them dry. Simple things make good memories :)