It’s that time again, load the Dacia with washing, drive 70 km to the nearest laundrette and spend a gray and cold and wet afternoon in Augsburg.
After the one hour drive, It is a one and a half hour torture routine every five or six weeks.
An hour and a half of watching the drugged and the alcoholics and the plain loopy while away their days.
A group of Africans sitting under the trees protected from the rain beneath a tarpaulin smoking and drinking, the woman fighting with unseen demons, another talking gibberish to anybody within earshot…
Shit, she is coming here.
I’ll ignore her and continue pecking at my phone untill she goes away.
Intetesting part of town is Oberhausen, one road, a half kilometer long with seven barbers, two of which are called: Kyber, halal shops next to each other, two betting shops and two laundromat places.
Five more minutes and my washing is out if thr dryer and I’ll be underway again.
Time to cough up for my own washing machine.
All I can think when reading this is how many clothes do you actually have if you can wait 5-6 weeks between washes.
Do you do the back to front then inside out routine with your undies?
It makes the once week or once a fortnight Swiss washing rota seem like luxury.
I made sure to have enough.
We have once a week.
Desperate for a pee I have pulled out at “Hurlacher Heide,” the only layby on the B17.
Gibberish lady found a listener in an African guy who came into the laundrette for a warm up, happy to have found somebody not ignoring her she turned up the gain another notch, he smiled and nodded uncomprehendingly, perhaps she is the ticket to a German pass?
Outside the rain has turned into sleet and was turning into snow.
I went to the carpark where another group of Africans were ironically huddled under the awning of the Arbeitsamt (RAV. For you guys) one of them peeled off, “Hellow my fren”
“Fuck off, not interested”
He fucked off muttering something about nazis.
Jeez the B17 is now an icerink and still the BMW’s and Mercedes whoosh by.
Nor for Slammer and the Dacia, I’m not in a hurry.
Thanks! Now I know where not to go on a Saturday.
Every problem has a solution
70 km just to do your washing. Are you right in the head?
I prefere to think that I run on an alternative OS.
Truth is there is nothing closer, next laundrette after Augsburg is in Munich.
But let me explain, after returning to DE the one room pokey hole under the roof simply did not have the space to install a washing machine so a laundrette is the only option.
Its usually not big of an issue, being on the road as a tecnician means I chuck a suitcase full in the car and when I pass a laundrette I stop and do rhe washing.
Go for a coffee, go for a haircut, collect the finished wash and carry on my merry way.
But every few weeks a dedicated trip is needed, just like yesterday.
Two suitcases and an aldi bag of washing costs 8 to 10 € and I dont pay for fuel in my company Dacia, so why not?
I was so pleased to see in Portugal almost every supermarket has a few machines in the parking lot. They run huge loads (perfume-free detergent included), and the dryers are efficient. Chuck the wash in, do the food shopping, Bob’s your uncle.
Is that 70 km one way?
Yup.
Find a neighbour with a machine and pay them 8-10 Euro.
Tried that, too embarrassed to do that again.
And deprive himself of an exciting day out? Where would be the fun in that?
Laundromats are a magnet for this type of communities, even in Switzerland
There are others but they have shit parking.
Or how whiffy they are if he doesn’t have enough for 5-6 weeks.
1 jeans. 1 teeshirt, jumper,undies. what more does one need.
Sartorial grace, indeed…