Umm, quoi?

Today I had the day off, the first in 5 days, which most might say is normal, but in the world of retail the fifth day is akin to being a guy who instead of pushing the rock up the mountain only to have it roll back down has instead chosen to just let it roll over his head. But, really it isn't that bad. So, on this glorious day which reached a high of 33C, for those of us who aren't in love with temperature that is based on 10 and freezing at zero boiling at 100, it was about 91F, I did laundry. (more on that in a second, perhaps more if you read slowly like me).  In NY this would have been absolutely unbearable. Here, just mildly uncomfortable, but people are freaking out. There are radio reports and hotlines going up making sure that all are safe. This is because of a heatwave that killed a couple hundred folks a couple of years ago. It reached 105F here for about 5 days, and as Paris is on the same Latitude as Montreal, it was kind of a big deal. Compared to NY though it is like nothing. It is warm, and yes even hot, but when the wind blows, you aren't being assaulted by even worse conditions, here the wind blows and one is relieved, a nice breeze too cool you off and blow air on your face. Hmmm, where was I? Oh yes, laundry...

After spending a week folding and prep-ing and getting ready for sale (which is akin to the storming of the Bastille, or at least supposed to be here) I did my laundry, precisely one month's worth. It has been a while, I went away, came back, and then after getting down to my last pair of underwear and having to wear a bathing suit as I had nothing else, I did my laundry. (take a breath, that was a long one) I don't have a washer/dryer here in the Petit Palais, so this means I have to walk up through the tourist trap that is Rue Saint-Louis en Ile, with about 70 pounds of laundry. (don't ask me kilos, I am not quite there yet) The system for the public laundry is bizarro and strange, well actually it turns out to be quite brilliant if not a bit off putting. You walk in and all the machines are on one side, and there is a quaint park bench and some sort of keypad box on the other. Upon inspecting the machines there is no where to put the money. So looking around there is a machine on the wall with instructions written on it in scratched up sharpie. 1. pick the number of your machine (this for some reason is taking me back to gym class and the "dodge ball unit" in Littleton, CO) insert your laundry and detergent, 2. go back to the wall machine, type in the corresponding washing machine's number, wait, wait, its thinking, 3. insert money and then it silently starts. Not so bad, but you have to really look around for instructions, and no one is there, the door is wide open. It is confusing for the french as well, as I helped a woman find her way. It is funny to see people walk in and stop, and stare. Then walk over to one machine, inspect it, walk over to another machine, inspect it, walk to the keypad box, inspect it, and then it dawns on them.