Where to begin...
Apartment living is not my cup of tea.
So to wash clothes this is how it works.
You have an assigned time to use the washer and dryer which is downstairs at the very bottom of the building. Granted, it's very safe, clean and well lit and accessible by the lift. Or the elevator.
There is a washer and a dryer. The directions should be plain and simple - turn knob, put in clothes, add soap. wait. Done.
OH let's backtrack here.
First you have to gather your dirty belongings, put them in a bag - in my case it was a bag from Chicoreè which is a very nice clothing store here. Stuffed in the 'whites.' Brought with me the soap. I think it was soap. It smelled good. it was in a big bottle. It was in a number of different languages none of which I recognized as being English or French. Soap is soap. Can't go wrong.
Took the washing machine key, which is for a digital thing that has your account on it and how much money you have in your account for washing clothes. Then you have to take your house key too which totally makes sense as you are on the third floor and you are pressing the button in the lift for the floor that says MINUS ONE. BUT...you have to unlock that floor with your house key or you dont ge to the laundry room. That would have been a godsend in this case...
Lot to remember.
OK, so now I am in the basement, in the well lit, nicely painted white downstairs laundry room. The allotted laundry time for Christopher is Wed. and Sun. nights from 5-10pm. If you miss those windows...too bad. Kind of like the way they run their trains here. Ohhhhh, too bad you missed the train. It does leave RIGHT on time you know. mmmm, ok.
Put the digital key into the proper receptacle. I guess it did what it was supposed to do. I really don't know except that the machine lit up like a Christmas tree. Ah, so far so good. Water started to trickle into the machine. And then...it stopped. totally. No more Christmas lights. I put the digital thing back in. Turned it. Went on again. Stopped again. sigh
So you are probably wondering why Christopher wasn't helping me out here. Well, he did show me how to use the machines a few days ago. I nodded in agreement - yah, I got it. Well apparently I didn't 'got it.' So, i left the laundry in the machine, said a few unprintable words, took all my keys with me and went back upstairs.
NOT GIVING UP
Regained composure, went down again, and -- it worked. ah. Gave it half hour and then checked again. It was done. Or so it seemed. Opened door, another trick. And the clothes were sopping wet. No spin dry here. I had to literally wring out the clothes by hand.
And put them in the dryer??? You must be joking. I had enough frustration for one night, not to mention NO jamies and NO sheets for the bed. And no towels. Everything else I can make do. Even the jamies - I'll just wear t-shirt and bathrobe. The dryer, minus Christmas lights, would have been equally fun to operate by the way.
Meanwhile...I am draping wet clothes out on the patio this evening. They will still be wet by tomorrow. I can hardly wait. With my luck it will rain.
And so I go to bed this evening totally frustrated that I could not operate a stupid washing machine that had directions in German. Achtung.
Christopher is at a rehearsal tonight until late. And my time for doing the laundry wont come again until Sunday. Gee this is fun.
Tomorrow is another day....keep smiling. It's only clean clothes. I still have a whole bag of dirty clothes I could wear. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. I am all LOL'd out now.
And of course the ONLY time I have ever met anyone in the lift had to be tonight as I was coming UP with 2 bags of laundry, a soap bottle and dressed in a godawful dress that I hate and not thinking I would see anyone...and I had to smile and say BONSOIR because that is what you say to anyone in your building. It's a French thing.
No wonder the French don't do much laundry.
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