Laundry Day (Sunday 5/17)

After traveling for two weeks I returned home late last week. This left me short on clothes...very short on some necessary pieces of clean clothing!!!

In this predicament, which I haven't had for a couple of years, as I am good at keeping up on my laundry tasks, I was thinking about a few times when I was shortest on clean clothing. 

The times that stuck out the most are when I was in Africa, in particular Sudan, Ethiopia and Zanzibar when I had to wash my clothes in bathroom sinks with a bar of soap.  Doing this was quite an experience after having had a clothes washer for my entire life.  The dirt and grime that was in the clothes at that time was very ground in and difficult to get out. 

I wasn't just thinking about the task and how difficult it was compared to the modern automated washing I was accustomed to.  I was also thinking about the time that I had to set aside and what I was able to do with that time.  There was quite a bit of time involved and then the hang drying of the clothes in some cases in very humid environments took quite a while.  During this washing and drying time, I was also the least connected to the world electronically.  This occurred before I ever had a cell phone, there was little or no internet access at these locations and no TV. 

Over the last month or so, I haven't been able to use my clothes washer in my house without devoting time and effort to the wash either.  I can still use it though I have a plumbing drainage problem that overflows during the washing.  Since this occurs, I have the clothes washer drain into a 5-gallon bucket, which I have to empty 2-3 times during the 45 minute cycle.  This means I have to stay near the washer and I have time to pass. 

Just as when I was in Africa, the time that I was passing is mostly passed with thought during this current washing situation I have.  I generally try to do some school reading and sit in the laundry room near the washer to ensure that the bucket doesn't overflow. 

It is strange to come so far from those remote locations in Africa to now be in a major metropolitan area with technology and modern plumbing, yet still have the symmetry of time devoted to thought, reading and learning and escape some of the ever-connectedness technological world that we live in.