Gone are the days when household chores were
undertaken without much thought. We just did them. No sweat!
Making twin beds each day was no problem,
in fact it was something I enjoyed doing. I was proud of my beds, and the way they
were ‘dressed’. To me they weren’t just somewhere to sleep, they were part of
the room’s attraction and I intended to keep it that way. This is what living
in a bungalow does for me, it didn’t matter so much in the big house because
the bedrooms were upstairs and out of sight.
Things change, though. Or rather people do.
I gave up the twin beds and got one large. Ooooh, all that room to sleep in was
heaven even though it meant more walking, round and round, on a daily basis,
when I made up the bed. I can’t remember when the breathlessness started but
start it did, and always after the morning ritual of making the bed, which
necessitated a daily hike round the bed. That was when I realised I was getting
older and things had to change.
Bed-making was eased by the introduction of fitted
sheets but, after a while, when those sheets needed washing it got to be a
struggle to replace them with clean ones. It’s the back, you know, plus that tendency
towards breathlessness.
I dealt with it, as you do, until it got to
be a worry. This meant a rethink was required. What to do? I remembered when
Joe was quite poorly, and bedlinen had to be changed more regularly, I got into
the habit of taking the washing to the launderette. They washed and ironed –
for a price – but it was convenient and meant I got the clean sheets back in
double quick time. Now there is only me, and only one bed, so I started to do
my own laundry again.
Until now.
Two large sheets is all, top and bottom, but
they were a struggle to fold and impossible to iron, as well as being a
struggle to fit on the bed, not to mention all that walking round and round the
double bed. It got that I was having to
sit down between each move so I knew I had to do something about it.
Back to the launderette. By this time the
price (£12 UK money) had risen to £15 although that wasn’t the reason for the
rethink. The shop is a car drive away and if you asked me to walk there and
back it would be like asking me to polish the moon. I began to wonder what
would happen when the car was disposed of.
Two weeks ago I saw the mother of Paola,
who used to clean my house once a week. Her mother had moved from cleaning
houses to taking in washing and still collected laundry from the house
opposite. Aha, I thought. I waited for her to come out and went over for a
little chat…the sort of chat that sounds like a plea for help.
After explaining what I wanted I was
disappointed to learn that she was too busy, but after a while she backed down
and said she would do it for £10 per sheet. That made £20 in total for one
wash. Well, what else can a body do when desperate? We exchanged phone numbers
then went our separate ways.
This week was the turn of Molly Maid to
visit. Molly Maid is the name of the
Now Tina has come up trumps with the
laundry. Changing bed linen is part of their duties but not washing them. We got
into a discussion about the price of laundry, something Tina felt strongly
about. After a few rants on her part about how physically able people were
making money out of us oldies, simply because we had no choice. I nearly passed
out when she grabbed the sheets and said she would do them. FOR FREE! Apparently,
she was incensed by the way people seem unwilling to help.
So off she went, sheets over one arm and
the vacuum cleaner pulled along by the other. She returned the washed laundry
three days later.
I can’t offer her money but maybe an
occasional box of chocolates? I don’t want to offend her and ruin a good
relationship. My way of helping could be to provide things for her regular
bring-and-buy stall – something she does to help charities. Books galore are
waiting to be disposed of so maybe that’s the way to go. Helping her would help
me and hopefully repay her kindness.
