A while back, I managed to replace my old grungy clothesline with some new rope so that I could use it for drying clothes without getting them filthy. Unfortunately, I had recently gotten used to the wash/dry/fold service at the laundromat so the line didn’t get any immediate use. It’s also winter, so hanging clothes out in freezing temps is not such a good idea.
Anyway, I finally accumulated a small pile of clothes and whatnot that I didn’t want to use the wash/dry/fold service for. Yayy, I get to use my brand spankin’ new clothesline at last. So I launder the clothes then bring them home to hang up. It’s at this point I should mention that this day was one of the most windiest days we’ve had in a while with sustained winds of 30-35 mph and gusts up to 60. I also live on the third floor. I’m not too worried about the wind though, I clip the clothes tightly to the line thinking it will just help them dry faster. I then leave the house to do some errands.
When I get back home about 45 minutes later, I go check on the clothes. Hmmm, there’s a couple of gaps in the line of clothes which is odd because I had put everything next to each other as you can see in the photo above. It turns out my black shorts and striped pj bottoms decided to go for a little flight thanks to the high winds. To make things worse, the clothesline itself had flipped over itself several times. So I’m in a bit of a pickle as to what I should do.
First things first, I managed to bring in the clothes that were still on the line and straighten out the clothesline itself. Now to deal with the items that had gone AWOL. The shorts had landed in the top of a cherry tree in the backyard of our building. I go downstairs and knock on my landlady’s (Sophie) door to see if she minds me going back there to get them. She’s happy to help as she has done it many times for my next door neighbor, who uses her clothesline all the time. Anyway, we go down the basement and get a bamboo pole then I head out to the backyard to go tree fishing for my shorts.
The bamboo pole is just a few inches too short to reach them but not to worry, Sophie’s got a backup plan. We find a broom handle and tape it to the bamboo pole with duct tape and I try again. This time it works like a charm, after a few swats with the pole, the shorts are back in my possession. I put the pole away and help Sophie close up the basement and give her my sincere gratitude.
Now about those pj bottoms, they were the more adventurous of the two items. They had landed in some shrubs a few buildings over. D@mn I thought, I gotta go ask a stranger if they’ll help me retrieve them? Well what could I do? They were my favorite pair of pj bottoms and I didn’t want to let them go so I swallowed my embarrassment and walked around the block. I found the building and rang the bell. A woman answered the door and I explained the situation… Neighbor, laundry (unspecified I might add), wind, her backyard, etc.
She gratefully went to get my clothing without hesitation while I waited out front. She returned a few minutes later to exclaim “I had to fight my rose bushes for them!” Awesome! Anyway, I expressed my thanks and returned home with my beloved pj’s in hand. The moral of this story? I have no idea.
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