Bob and his bedding
I do not suppose that the laundering of my bedding is of intensive interest to our 2 million readers and our other contributors must be holding back their copy for this post to be published. Nonetheless there is a life story of sorts here.
When I moved down here, I engaged various trades and services and they have not all made the course, some because they overcharged, others because they were neither good nor efficient. As with another Ruster I know, I do not wish to be tasked with my own cleaning.
So I found a laundry collection service and still use them. There is the occasional hiccup, once I went for a walk and missed the collection, occasionally they get the wrong date. This happened some 2 weeks ago. I was, as they say, “on manoeuvres” and worried about the interruption of the collection service. I need not have worried as they failed to turn up.
After a while I messaged the owner who said I had specified Thursday. I knew I had not as I was going with Algy to the Ridgeview winery that evening and had diarised Wednesday in my kitchen calendar. I was miffed by the reply and irritated by the use of 2 question marks in his message suggesting the fault lay with me. There is a schedule of marrying laundered bedding to my cleaner times.
So I decided to entrust the bedding and a pair of corduroys that need repair to another. The laundry I had in mind had done a good job with my seersucker jacket.
I dropped off the said laundry and asked the assistant if the bedding could be ready by Saturday afternoon as I knew I was passing by returning from the funeral in Suffolk.
It was a long journey of over 4 hours involving 2 trains, tube and bus and I was looking forward to finally getting home. The taxi driver waited outside the laundry.
One of the irritating aspects of retail life here is that if you are in a queue the assistant will conduct a lengthy conversation with the person in front of you.
This happened and then the assistant could not locate my laundry, eventually announcing it had not come back. I replied that I was assured that it would be ready to which the assistant riposted “Are you calling me a liar? ” This set me off and a full row ensued. Afterwards I felt bad about my loss of control, it also meant I still had to return.
Yesterday after my Spanish lesson and laden with other purchases I took a taxi and requested him to wait outside the laundry.
It was not thank goodness the same lady as I would have felt obliged to apologise to her. The lady conducted a search. I told her I brought it in a laundry bag. She replied I had not. I kept my cool even after called me “My darling”. The bedding was ready for which I was charged a stiff £20. The trousers were not ready so I would still have to make another journey
On the coach back from Ridgeview the news leaked out that Lionel Richie was playing a concert at the County Ground.
This prompted one fellow, fortified by the sparkling wine, to give a few renditions of Richie’s more famous numbers.
Richie must be in his mid-70s and at £130 I was not that enthused to go.
However Kim,the round busty girl that does the Monday and Friday collection shift, is and said last evening she is saving up for it. I explained my connection, to which she relied ” We can go together”. In every sense Kim has front. Of course she is looking for me to finance this but I had a feeling of post-laundry well-being that the other laundry could not offer.
