This afternoon I did laundry in place I usually don't, in a place which appears rather downtrodden, but upon closer examination is not only in good working order, it offers a better deal than the average laundromat around town.
The point of this blog, however, is not about doing one's laundry right before work -- it's about the act of communitarian kindness I witnessed kitty-corner to the laundromat.
The "Ballpark," a dive bar, is located near the laundromat, with a hopelessly overpriced beauty salon struggling in between. I didn't particularly notice the bar when I pulled up with my basketful of clothes. My attention was riveted upon the motorcycle parked in front of it.
THE DIVE BAR
The motorcycle was an older BMW with an opposing twin cylinder engine. It brought to mind a goal I had when I lived in West Germany, which was to do the yuppie thing and bring home a Bimmer, only I wanted mine to have two wheels. My first wife, Doan, agreed, on the condition that I get a side-car.
So here I find one -- in the handicapped parking.
After I had loaded my laundry and was checking my cellphone for emails and tweets, as well as catching up on the latest gossip about missiles reaching San Francisco from North Korea, a scraggly white-haired guy comes out of the bar by himself holding his oxygen tank -- drunk. He got on his bike, but looked a bit lost as to what he had to do again to get it started.
Another man came out of the bar.
The one on the bike was about to charge off, just after saying "I'm f@cked up!" That's when the other man from the bar asked him how he was doing. The man on the bike said he could really use a cigarette. This coming from somone who was using his side-car to hold his oxygen tank.
The man gave a cigarette to him, and engaged him in a conversation. Gradually, other patrons came out of the bar to also talk with him, essentially stalling him from starting the bike. What I saw, while waiting for the spin cycle to finish, was a congregation of souls looking out for one another.
Which made doing laundry, such a simple little thing, so enlightening.
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