Hanging The Washing… A Disastrous Story with a Happy Ending.

Like a cliche in a small European apartment, like what you see on the balconies in Naples. Hanging the washing was a disaster! I arrived home from a week away at dad’s holiday house, and I had lots of washing to do. A full load. I had put my clothes in the machine, my shorts and tees, and a bunch of clothes I was excited to wash and wear, to have clean clothes and do a chore. Putting it in the machine was fun, turning it on was great, and away we go. “Yay clean clothes, and hanging will be great” I thought. It wasn’t until hours later, when I unpacked that I remembered I left my grandmas gold rings and possibly a paper note of money, in the pocket of my denim shorts. “Oh no” I thought, “what will happen to the clothes and the machine?!” Yikes. I panicked a bit, because the rings were valuable.

After getting the clothes out of the washer, and checking my pockets for for the rings, I couldn’t find them. I looked through the washing machine, and found one ring, missing the gem in the middle. The other ring was gone. “The machine must of ate it,” I thought to myself.

The next washing load was a worry, because the ring was still missing in the machine. However, I needed to wash, so I took the risk of washing it anyway. I had a couple of rugs, and a sheet cover. The machine wasn’t near full, so that was another risk I had to take.

When it was all done, I was a little nervous about it, “what if I the machine breaks and I could not wash again?!” So I went to the machine, and opened the door. “Oh my god” I exclaimed out aloud, “there was a machine full of water. Water just sitting in the machine. Obviously the ring and the empty load impacted the washing. I pulled out the rugs, and they were soaking wet, heavy with water, how is this going to dry? Where am I going to dry it? Now the machine is broken, how am I going to wash clothes, will I ever fix the machine?! I was horrified at the situation, and felt like leaving everything, now I had more work to do!

I ended up having to ring out, the rugs and coach covers by hand. It was difficult, and time consuming, however, it was interesting and worth it in the end. It was soaking, so I put it on the line, and noticed it was dripping. So I put a bucket underneath, it was too wet to leave dripping. So I had the wring the huge amounts of excess water, I didn’t know how to wring things very well. So that was difficult. The whole time thinking, should I do this, should I finish this chore?! I have 5 items to wring, and the wringing is hard enough. I finished wringing, and it was good.

A few days later, not being fussed about the washing any more on the line, I checked the rugs to see if they were dry. Everything was clean, beautiful, and dry! I was stoked with my work of art, and the results. I was happy with how it turned out.

As for the machine, I scooped out the water and put it down the sink with a bucket. I washed my clothes at someone’s apartment, and hand washed my underwear. I rationed my day-to-day casual clothes, therefore I didn’t need to wash often.

A story of travel, living and a life lesson that I will never forget, a tough situation that built character. A one of a kind experience, from me to you. From yours truly x