Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Got change?


Playing the slots
London, ON, July 2009
About this photo: It's black & white week all week long. We call it Thematic Photographic, and if you want in, just follow your mouse here.
Before our dryer dried its last load last summer*, I didn't appreciate the virtues of the neighborhood laundromat. Silly me, because these places have a feel that almost begs to be experienced.

Laundromats also seem to have a slightly forgotten-by-time aesthetic about them. This, of course, feeds the photographic machine rather nicely. So while our whites and delicates spun their little permanent press hearts out, I explored the place with my lens.

Funny, but now that we have a working washer-dryer set, I find myself hankering to return to the laundromat. You never know what you'll find there, and what stories you'll bring back.

Your turn: Got a laundromat story? Or a laundry story?

--
* Please see here, here and here for more background on our laundry adventure. This one's my favorite, as it involved an inadvertent near-meetup with a fellow London blogger.

7 comments:

The Gearheads said...

We go to the laundromat when we want to clean our large blankets or sleeping bags. I enjoy the people watching, it's a good place to study human nature. You are right, no matter how modern a laundromat is it still give you that throwback feeling. Thank you for the photo, I enjoy the symmetry of the line up.

The Gearheads said...

I added one final set for this theme here

Anne said...

The few times I had to use the laundromat was when we used to go to the cottage. The kids were young and there was always tons to do at home. Taking off for the laundromat was my time to read and relax guilt-free (cause I was doing the laundry :))

that guy said...

laundro-mats are good when you do not NEED one, to dry your clotehs at 1 am in the morning cuz you forgot to start the dryer...and now it does not work...and you have to be on the road for a 2 hour commute at 6 am...and you are really really stupid...being still up at 1in the am...

not that this has EVER happended to me....

kenju said...

I know I haven't been in a laundromat since the 1970's, but I need one. We have a king-sized comforter that needs washing - not dry cleaning. I don't think we have any laundromats around here anymore - which is sad.

Cathy said...

I had to use the Laundromat when first married. I despised going once a week having to load the car with clothes, laundry soap, bleach, and fabric softener then unloading all the stuff once there, then doing it all over again once the wash was done. The final straw for me was when putting freshly washed clothes in the dryer only to find feces smeared all on the inside the dryer...

Dawn said...

Great shot!
I never used to think the laundromat anything spectacular...until I saw this line-up:)

All my laundromat stories are ones of thievery (the machine always wants me to feed it more), or mix-ups (I have gone home with someone's unmentionables- NOT on purpose:), and I always come out a tad more impatience than when I went in. NOW....If I would have thought to bring my camera.....

Thanks for coming by my blog.
Good to meet you!