Having tried the laundry service at three separate businesses and having suffered losses of items at all of them, we have decided to go back to doing the job ourselves at the launderette.

Queueing at Sainsbury’s

First, though, we needed to do our usual Sunday shopping. When we reached Sainsbury’s, they had not managed to open on time (this branch is particularly bad at that, for some reason), and we joined a queue of waiting customers.

Inside Sainsbury’s

Once admitted, we sped round the shelves, each having a list of items to deal with. We had soon finished and carted our purchases home, picking up coffee from Mercer’s on the way past.

Sunshine

After lunch, having emptied the shopping trolley, we filled it up again – this time with laundry! As we went to the bus stop, we were cheered by the sun shining though the air was quite chilly.

Aboard the 30

We heaved the trolley onto a number 30 bus. It was fairly full and I stayed with the trolley in the wheelchair area, hoping that no wheelchair passengers would want to board the bus. In that, I was lucky as none did.

The British Library stop

We unloaded the trolley and ourselves at the stop near the British Library.

Mabledon Place

From the bus stop, we set off up Mabledon Place, then…

Cartwright Gardens

…through Cartwright Gardens, where some brave people were playing tennis, and thence…

The launderette

…into Marchmont Street where we find the launderette. We had not been here since before the Covid pandemic struck and so we were not surprised to find a few changes.

Machines of three sizes

The main change, of course, was that prices had increased. There are three sizes of washing machines and we used a large and a medium at £10 and £8, respectively.

Costa

We set the machines going and then, as the wash cycle takes about 40 minutes, we went along the road to Costa and had coffee. (It’s safe to leave the machines because they cannot be opened while they are running.)

We then returned and went through the drying process. This is slow and the more items you put in a dryer, the less likely they are to dry. Drying is therefore a tedious process on running the dryer, taking out any items that are dry and running the dryer again, repeating the process until everything has been dried. The whole performance of washing and drying previously cost us £17. Today, owing to the price increases, it cost £30.

Darkness in Marchmont Street

By the time we emerged from the launderette, darkness had fallen. We followed the road back to the British Library bus stop where we heaved our trolley onto a number 73 bus.

Aboard the 73

This time, we had seats adjacent to the wheelchair area so we could sit down with our trolley beside us. The bus carried us up the hill to the Angel.

St Mark’s Church

We deposited the trolley at home and then, because Tigger needed to walk a little bit more to “close the ring”, we went for a stroll round Myddelton Square. The lights were on in the church but the outside was not illuminated. Maybe they need to economise in these times of high energy costs.

The Curvaceous Tree

Before turning for home, I took a photo of my favourite, the Curvaceous Tree. Well, I don’t want it to think I have forgotten it! Just now it is winter-bare and I am looking forward to seeing it produce new green leaves in spring.

We returned home to put away the laundry and enjoy a cosy evening at home.