Tales from the laundromat

Apparently, the laundromat can be quite the entertaining place.

Granted, most of the time its pretty boring. Upon entering, doing an initial scan of the patrons, and realizing that the most eligible one has tattoos up and down both arms, wears hoop earrings in both ears and one in his lip, and smells of cigarettes... I usually just find the closest chair and continue reading about Mr Darcy fighting his temptations over Elizabeth while discussing the best ways to kill zombies.

My reading was disrupted this evening as a lady came rushing in and said very loudly for all to hear, 'Is that your car that just rolled out onto the street??!!!'

Obviously, we all jump up and look out the window to see a car sitting crossways in the middle of the street. Tattoo boy lets out an embarrassed laugh and runs out the door - apparently his e-brake failed.

Its amazing though, how, once something dumb happens that has been witnessed by those gathered, everyone who would normally avoid eye contact at all costs suddenly start making small talk.

Speaking of small talk, a little while later, this little girl comes skipping across the parking lot with her mom. She's got a pink mp3 player in one hand and this gianormous set of stereo headphones on her head, she can't be any older than 5, and the cord on the headphones is so long, its pretty well dragging on the ground.

She waltzes in the door, comes right over to me (like, she's pretty much leaning on the arm of my chair), and says 'Hi!'.

(oh great... happy outgoing child...) "Hi, kiddo", I reply.

"Is that your book?"

(did she really just say what I think she did?) "uhh.. what?"

"Is that your book?"

(well, its not yours. The colouring books are over in there in the box) "yeah, I brought it with me"

"oh"

I can now hear her music playing loud and clear through her headphones which she now has in her hand. "Do you know who this is?"

(oh great, a 5 year old who knows more about music than me...) "Nope, who is it?"

"Michael Jackson"

(... where's this kid's mother?) "ooh... cool"

"Do you know how to use an iPod? or, an mp3 player?"

(yay - now this child is gonna ask me to fix her mp3 player) "well, I don't know how to use YOUR mp3 player..."

"Oh. Want me to show you?"

(you've got to be kidding me. honestly, where is this kid's mother?) "uh... sure"

"see, this is where the music plays. And if you pull this out, the music stops! Plug it back into this hole and, see? The music plays again!"

(wow) "wow!"

"Are you here by yourself?"

(woah - what?! I didn't see that one coming. Do I really look so lonely that even 5 year olds can tell?! ouch...) "uh, yep - I came alone." (thanks for pointing that out)

And off she went to dance to her Micheal Jackson in the parking lot - I guess I wasn't exciting enough for her. Oh, by the way, her mother was about 10 feet away doing laundry and didn't seem too bothered that her kid was talking to strangers.

All in all, a decent laundromat evening.