Saturday Night at the Laundromat

My brother called from LA where he was having tacos and cervazas at a local hipster Mexican joint and he asked what I was doing. When I told him I was going to the laundromat, he said: "Tell me that's a bar."

No, my lively Sat night hangout was the Grandin Road Laundromat, where scores of towels long overdue for a wash would enjoy a fast scrub in the triple loader.

The place was surprisingly crowded for a Sat night, with maybe 10 people inside either reading or watching the giant flat screen tv in front of the encircling chairs while snatching occasional glances at their clothes.

My wife and I sat at the table where chairs welding in place leave little room for seating arrangement manipulation.

On the tube was a local show about how to handle the digital conversion coming up. It must have been old because it was still adamant that the conversion will be in February, taking light jabs at "on the street" polls where people don't know what happens on Feb 17, like digital conversion should be as ubiquitously known as, say, who's president or who invented the telephone.

The show was obviously aimed at seniors based on the commercials by "Tom Cruise" making the scooter for the elderly look as much fun as the X-Box 360.

Even the magazines were aimed at an older demographic, with titles such as The Saturday Evening Post. The attendant - doing an excellent job of keeping the place clean - was an elderly gentleman, pretty much the only one in there, so I figure he'd decided to gear the laundromat experience based on personal preference.

Having a 7-Eleven snack dinner was a rare treat, and having time away from home's distractions to read was nice as well, though reading over the din of rather repetitious programming took some focus.

I don't anticipate the Grandin Road Laundromat to become a regular Saturday night hangout, but with as little as I've ever been there, and based on some of the shadier laundromats I've seen in my day, I'd have to say it was as pleasant an experience as doing laundry ever is.