Wednesday, June 20, 2007

How Long is This Gonna Take?

Ever notice how much time we spend waiting? I'm sure that someone has put together a book of things which make us wait. As kids we can't wait until we are 16, then 21. When we are about to become parents it seems to take forever. Then we wonder if the children will ever grow up. We spend time waiting for the spouse to get dressed to go somewhere. We can control these things, sort of, maybe.

What about those things that we didn't realize would take so long. We all know that water on the stove won't boil until we are busy doing something else. Red lights seen to take forever to change. Traffic? What traffic? I've seen snails move faster than some of the traffic around here. How about the dryer? Why is it when you are in a hurry to put away the clothes, the dryer just keeps going. Leave the laundry room and the dryer will finish. For me that would mean another trip upstairs. So the other day I'm in the middle of laundry when I find myself waiting for the washer. I was downstairs when I heard the washing cycle change. I went up stairs ready to put the liquid softener in the rinse cycle. I wait and wait and wait. Why does it seem that the last few minutes take so long? Finally, the washer was ready for the softener. Back down stairs. Well, I guess I could call it exercise. Then the spin cycle starts. Finally after a while it's now almost through,I think. Back up the stairs, I find myself standing at the washing machine, watching and waiting. The spin cycle indicator shows that is almost at the end. The needle has moved nearly to the end. I continue to stand there as the washer continues to spin. Any minute now, right? It continues to spin. It is still spinning while I stand there tapping my fingers on the top of the machine. The indicator moves on and on. Why is it when I am not paying attention the wash will be done in no time. I will be in the middle of something and realize the washing machine stopped. Yet when I am standing right in front of the machine waiting, it spins forever. How long is this gonna take? Just as long as it takes for me to get involved in doing something else. If I go downstairs it will immediately stop. If I stand there it will keep going... So I wait. We're going to have a little contest here. I'm going to outwait this washing machine. Aw, man, now the phone is ringing.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When you are busy, time flies. When you are so free or bore, you count on the minutes or even the second. So do I. :P

Btw, thanks for dropping by my blog and the comment. Please come often. :)

Bazza said...

It's a bit like when you're at work waiting for someone to ring you back. You wait and you wait and you wait, and then you need to go to toilet. Guess when they ring back?

Pixie said...

The last spin cycle drives me nuts. I'm bad about going ahead & stopping it before it ends. My washer & dryer are out in the garage & that's the last place I wanna stand & wait these days in.

ABW said...

I'm just as bad standing there and waiting. If I don't do it right as it ends I will forget all about it and it will sit for days and then I have to start over. Maybe I need an alarm on my washer like my dryer? Thanks for stopping by, I love to read your blog!