Day Four

I love washing dishes.

I don’t know why, I just always have. I think it’s one of those chores that never really felt like one. Was it the fact I could take my time, no hurry, no worries, just water, liquid, cloth or the fact that you really didn’t need any skills or preparation for the job. It’s not like vacuuming, where you have to worry about whether the bag is full or the cylinder is empty, about wires getting stuck and having to unplug because it won’t reach and set up again.
There’s a genuine calming feeling that comes from doing the dishes and I think one of the main reasons was ‘The Disk’. Now, over the years this has evolved (in the new tech days of Ipods and mp3s) into ‘The Playlist’, but it always remained the same mix of songs that would accompany me as I washed.

Michaels Dishes Mix

1. Sound of the Underground: Girls Aloud
2. A Thousand Miles: Vanessa Carlton
3. Can’t Stop: Red Hot Chilli Peppers
4. Smells like Teen Spirit: Nirvana
5. How You Remind Me: Nickleback
6. Blurry: Puddle of Mudd
7. Creep: Radiohead
8. High and Dry: Radiohead
9. Fake Plastic Trees: Radiohead
10. Streets of London: Ralph McTell
11. Dock of the Bay: Otis Redding
12. Here Comes the Sun: The Beatles
13. Mrs Robinson: Simon and Garfunkel
14. Shiny Happy People: REM

The music is almost in three waves, with the disk lasting a good hour, though they never took that long really. First up you had the ‘Get up and Go’ music: Tracks 1-6. These are the songs that get people active and usually singing as loud as they can. Of course they are perfect for this task as you move around the house looking for dishes, piling them up and getting everything ready. Next ‘The Depression Session’: Tracks 7-10. It’s Radiohead. That’s all you need to know, but after a while you do need a calming sensation and who better to numb you to the world than Radiohead? It also includes Streets of London, which I believe is possibly the saddest song ever written. Finally the ‘Chill Out and End’: Tracks 11-14. These are the ones that you listen to as your drying, putting them away, putting the kettle on for a cup of tea and getting ready for what the world has in store for you next.

In work today, I was on my break and decided to go and make myself a ‘brew’. Getting to the sink I saw it almost overflowing with dishes. And by overflowing, I mean in that comical leaning tower of Pisa of dishes type way. I sighed. I looked at the clock and I just couldn’t help myself, I emptied the sink, filled it with water and soap and started to wash. It seemed odd, just how calming this all was. I washed as people came in and out trying to get at a spoon or a clean cup, all the while giving me that look that seemed to say:
‘Wait. You’re doing the dishes?’
I finished washing and left them all to dry. As I did, Chrissy noticed the pile of dishes and then said ‘You could have just put them in the dishwasher you know’.
I bit my tongue.
AAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s the last time I do the bloody dishes here!