Our washer broke almost 3 weeks ago. Being the handy little DIYers that we are, we didn’t call the repairman- but went to YouTube, diagnosed the issue and ordered parts. It took about a week to get the parts, because Covid probably. Isn’t that what everything is blamed on these days? It took a 4×8 and a ratchet strap to get the old part off, which broke we had to put so much pressure on it. More than one video claims this is normal?!

So we got the new part, put it on, washer still broke. I was able to wash stuff, but it wouldn’t spin out. So we replaced the belt. Still broke. By now we were running out of everything- like drying off with handtowels after showers and turning underwear wrong side out to wear again kind of situation. So I had to go brave the laundromat. Our neighbor and a friend offered the use of their washer, but I figured rather than impose on either for hours, I’d just run 6 or so loads up to town, drop them all in at once and be finished in 1/2 hour.

It kind of went like that, except I forgot that laundromats are one of those places where you are trapped until your laundry is done, so you are therefore forced to interact with other people because you can’t leave your stuff unattended. Most of the folks just nodded or said hi and went about their business, but then a lady comes in with her husband. He plops 3 stuffed trash bags full of laundry on the counter next to me then leaves to go wait in the truck. That’s because he KNEW.

He KNEW she was a chatty Kathy. Normally my single word non-committal responses are enough to make most people realize I’d rather chat with a tree than a stranger, but this lady was not deterred in the least. She wanted to converse about everything… the puddle on the floor, the noise one of my washers was making while spinning out (which she decided to shout for the manager on my behalf in case he hadn’t been listening to it all day), she talked about how you had to forcefully put the quarters in the machines, how she liked to try and get machines all in a row but it didn’t always work out because sometimes one was broken and she’d have to skip that one… I was considering jamming a plastic hangar through my eardrums to drown her out when my last load finally finished and I was delivered from evil.

My husband talks to everybody y’all. My daughter and I joke that we can’t leave him alone in public for 2 minutes, without coming back to find he’s made a friend. Me, I could not converse with another human outside of my family for months and be perfectly happy. I like quiet and the non-stop movie reel that runs in my head. It drains my energy to socialize, I NEED alone time to recharge and not feel like I want to crawl out of my own skin to escape. I cherish this hour that I spend watching my kid go round a pen on a horse once a week. It is the best $35 I spend all week.

I suppose that’s why I take so well to gardening, art and writing. They’re all solitary activities for the most part and I can share them with others without having to be especially social. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll talk your freaking ear off about a particular kind if heirloom tomato, but if you want to chat about the weather or what’s for dinner I’d rather just dig in my dirt and let you be on your way. If you want to chat about the book you’re reading, how you’re learning to speak Gaelic or that you’re researching the effects of daylight savings time on mice- I’ll hand you a trowel and we can hang for a while. Just save the small talk for your pharmacist. PLEASE.

This is why I don’t thrive at parties. People at parties or social gatherings want pleasant conversation- ie boring, tedious, ram a plastic hangar through my eardrum so I don’t have to listen to you conversation.

So that is my exciting tale of woe for the week. I’m also very happy that Mercury retrograde is finally over and that after this weekend I don’t have to wake up in the dark. It will be dark at 5pm though. 😦

Might mean I can stand outside before bed and listen to the owls. 🙂

Kid is unsaddling her horse. Until later.

B