DETERIORATION

There’s a Lot of Stuff Falling Apart

And it’s not just our washer

Photo by author

In dog years, our clothes washer and its dryer mate are really getting old. That suspicious injury in the top left corner and the rust inside the door are just like my greying hair and the wrinkles on my face: there’s more going wrong than you can see. Clothes don’t spin out well, and drying takes longer than it should regardless. The electronics glitch now and then, refusing to run at all or making false problem reports.

I suspect there’s more to see here as well:

Screenshot by author

The washer/dryer problems are easy to fix. The machines are twenty years old, so I can’t really complain about the expense. We’ll replace them soon.

I can’t replace my aging body. I remember being able to kneel on the floor and slowly lever myself into a handstand. Of course I had to see if I still could!

Does being able to get my knees and toes off the ground count? Does it still count if I could only hold it for maybe an eighth of a second?

I think not. Now, about that prolonged delay of data services. It says nothing is being…