45 minutes until my laundry is done. This is the first time I've done laundry here since I came. That's right, I held out for two whole weeks! Quite an accomplishment, I'd say. It's all about how many pairs of socks and underwear one has, I think. I bought more before I came just so I wouldn't have to do laundry so often. Not doing laundry for the first two weeks also allowed me to get the scoop from other people who had used the machines. Each laundromat, (or launderette, as the one in this building is called) has its own quirks, and it's good to let other people figure out the quirks before losing money yourself.
There are 10 washing machines and 10 dryers, but at any given time, about 3 have "out of order" signs posted on them. This is not sufficient for a residence hall that houses over 600 people. I thought a Tuesday morning would be a good time to claim a couple of machines, but I was lucky to get one. Forget Saturday, the universal cleaning day--there's probably a queue out the door.
Doing laundry at a launderette is not cheap. I remember doing laundry at Trinity and complaining about spending $1 to wash and $1 to dry. Oh, the horror, $2 to do a load!!! What I didn't know then was $2 is a good deal. Here, it's L1.20 (L is pounds--I don't know how to make the computer to the actual symbol.) to wash and 2op (p is pence, no weird symbol needed) for 12 minutes of drying time. So, if you want your clothes to dry completely, plan on spending L1 or dividing your one load into three, if you're lucky enough to get three dryers. These prices are equivalent to $2.25 to wash and at least $2 to dry, so we're looking at about $4 for each load. I made the mistake of only putting 40p in the dryer the first time, and now I have damp underwear, socks and towels hanging all over my room. I am not opposed to air drying my clothes, but there are not many places to drape damp clothing in a tiny dorm room. But, how this for ingenuity?... I used my hair dryer to dry some of the just-about-dry pieces! The people next door must have wondered what kind of elaborate hairstyle I was working on, but, hey, you do what you gotta do!
On the positive side, the laundrette is an interesting place to observe people. There are always people pacing, waiting for their machines, or mumbling obscenities under their breath because they realized they've just laundered their ATM card. And, everyone is always friendly to one another in a laundrette because you're all there for the same wretched chore and anything to make the experience more enjoyable is welcomed.
Some pictures of where I spent my morning... Lovely isn't it? Sorry, you can only use it if you live here.