African Laundry

Today at last I washed my Congolese baby wrap and my Zimbabwean tablecloth, individually, without detergent, for the first time. In a 30C wash neither of them appears to have suffered any damage, not even the lovely artwork on the Zimbabwean one.

(I also did more tedious stuff, but this is all part of Project Empty Laundry Bin, and I've been putting these items off for fear of damaging them).

Good grief - carol singer.

Bing bong, open door, single teenage girl sings "We wish you a merry Christmas" badly and the hallway fills with the smell of cigarette smoke. I pop my head out to see where the stink comes from and realise at least one other girl is doing the same further down the street. The girl at our door had a bucket covered in tinfoil; Rob gave her 50p or so.

Why not sing together? Daft. Not collecting for charity, obviously. Bah. One reads in books - Susan Cooper, heh - of carol singers in choirs singing a whole song at each house. Humbug.

Poxy poxy poxy

A friend's child may or may not have chickenpox; if it's the pox, we can't fly to Ireland, I think.

Oh GOTT IM HIMMEL why?!

"You are infectious from about two days before the rash appears until roughly five days after."

The child played here for over two hours on Sunday and the spots arrived today (Tuesday). Our flight is on Saturday.

Photos of my hair for public comment and derision, no doubt

( Ailbhe's hair )

Domestic history photos

( tractor and table )

Three more laundry days before departure

Ailbhe: What do you think of the amount of laundry I've done?
Rob: It's astounding.
Ailbhe: Well, time is fleeting.