Thursday, June 5, 2008

If you think your washing machine's bad....

Yeah, yeah, I know, at least I have one.

Ok, this is my hundred year old washing machine. Note the children of color hugging in their underwear. They must be happy that their only outfits are being washed.


See how it has two sections? Let me explain. The left half is where you put the clothes, and you turn on the water faucet at the sink (kitchen sink, you hook a hose to the faucet.) ... and you have to turn it off when it gets however high you want it.
- Then you turn the timer and it'll swoosh (strong word) for however long you said. Extra dirty things need extra swooshes with a giant spoon.
- Then you turn a dial and the water drains out. Sometimes a little goes on the floor, but it's old. That might happen to me someday, so I'm forgiving.
- Then you turn on the faucet again (don't forget to close the drain) and repeat for rinsing.
- Then when you've done all that to your satisfaction... you heave the wet dripping clothes over to the right side, which spins it dry. If it clunks around and doesn't spin, you shift the clothes a bit and try again. And again. And again.


Well, today while it was spinning the kitchen started smelling like burning rubber or electrical-something. It was obviously broken. Luckily I had a backup. Yes, you heard me. I had a BACKUP. How many of you can say THAT? Ha.

Really. There's been a brand new washer on my little indoor "balcony" all along...


SO...
..... enter new washer, which my son proudly hooked up. I think the landlord never used it because it wouldn't fit through the sliding kitchen door, which was stuck slightly closed. A few people have tried and failed to open it all the way, even my son and the landlord. But TONIGHT... oh, tonight was different. He carried that darn washer from balcony, through my bedroom into the hall, and carried the old one from kitchen, through the hall, through my bedroom and onto the balcony, so he MADE THE DOOR OPEN. He shoved harder than ever and it opened just enough to get the washer through.

See the chinese writing? I bet most of you don't know what it all says, huh? Neither do I. One of them says "water level", and one says "stop" and there's the obvious big red power dot. I've got a test load going now, to learn what it does with this particular combination of little red lights. Check out all those bumps and spinny things inside.

So far this washer's even more of a pain than the old one, because it wants the water to turn on/off/on/off/on/off all fancy-like, which means *I* have to get up and go turn the water faucet on/off/on/off/on/off or it just sits there doing nothing, waiting. Ugh.


Ok, I can hear it coming, from my wise elders, don't even think about it!

"Back in my day we had to carry our laundry on our BACKS, uphill both ways, for 10 miles in the snow, and beat it with sticks in a river after we broke away some ice to make a spot!!" Yeah, well at least I'd get exercise. This way I just have to be nearby for 45 minutes doing something that can be interrupted at the washer's beck and call.

More washer pics in my Picasa album, "My Apartment"... and maybe you'll get lucky enough to see other appliances as well.... like the inside of my fridge, food included!

1 comment:

Sandi said...

Great pic! I haven't seen this kind of washing machine in ages! Oh, I'm referring to the first pic.