laundry

I have a washing machine. It is nothing really fancy but it is real cute. When it is turned on, it

sings a little high-pitched tune that reminds me of baby toys that beep. The washer also sings a

variety of tunes during different stages of the wash - spin, rinse, wash etc. It is quite pleasant

to the ears considering how burdensome doing laundry can be.

You got to separate the whites from the coloured; the fuzzy from the er, non-fuzzy; put all the

dark-coloured ones together; pry the underwear from the bottoms in case they get lost with the main

washing, if not I can kiss a ton of money good bye.

Ironically it is the clothes one does not see that cost the most. Marks and Spencer should take a

good look at their pricing, maybe come up with budget versions for people like me who are their

loyal supporters but do not have the finances to keep up with their exorbitant prices. Those lousy

English people surely bank on the needs of women.

Underwear wears me out overly. They have to be hand-washed! Those pastel underwires will end up a

wrangled mess if left to the machine. Poor oh me has to bend over a bucket to soak and rinse them

two to three times over for the soap suds to be eliminated. When I first started hand-washing my

stuff, I really did not know when they were really clean. Thank God common sense kicked in and I

realised that as long as I ran them through water and do not see anymore suds, they are clean.

Next comes drying clothes. Oh the horror and frustration when I come home to find my towels still

damp after I've hung them out to dry under the hot sun. Why do towels take so long to have water

out of them? Worse still, I find them chucked on the sofa, by a good-hearted housemate of mine

whom, I suspect, was afraid of rain ruining my washing. Never have I had such poorly dried towels

in my life. Would I get a fungal infection? Shudder.

The best part about laundry is, yes, taking them down from the hangers when they are dried. I love,

especially taking down the hand-washed ones. I bought one of those circular clothes dryer, with

pegs on them so that one can clip 15 items altogether at one go. Those can do small items like

socks and underwear with the least headache.


As I take each piece off one by one, I survey the beauty of my handiwork - clean, fresh, sun-dried

underwear, ready for use. Ahh... The feeling of wearing the work of my hands is indescribable.

Even taking down the machine-washed ones make me smile. I have clean clothes to wear! And decent

looking ones I may add. When I was studying overseas, I had a yellow sweater I threw in with my

black sweaters because I was too lazy to dry-clean it. I ended up wearing spots of yellow for the

following weeks, even my black cordoroys were not spared! Since then I've always adhered to the

rules of laundry.

I never had a good look at my clothes until I had to do my own washing - some T-shirts have been

washed to an embarrassing thinness, the button on my esprit shorts is falling out, I have only 2

good white t-shirts for running etc. I never had real ownership till now - when I had to touch and

straighten them out. I know every zip, strap and stain on them.

They are my clothes and I enjoy wearing and washing them. They are my clothes, what would I do if I

did not have them? I can't fashion leaf and twig for decency. I don't live in Eden and I can't walk

around naked. I need my clothes. If it is the case, I want them in good condition, hand-washed if

need be to be preserved for as long as possible.