''Glory days''
These pictures were taken at 3 in the morning from across the parking lot, standing by the pay phone in front of the grocery store. At that time, the internet was going strong on dial up and 'they' hadn't closed down the international chat rooms, yet. I had books and maps and magazines, kept it clean and checked on it, at least twice a day. Opening and closing. People would stop by and visit, just to see what was new on the table. They'd take something, and leave something. Clothes even, if stuff was too small or whatever, just leave it on one particular table for people to go thru as they did their laundry. Old fashioned machines, now. They had such a nice chug,chug, chug rhythm. It was within walking distance of the old rental house. We'd get the stroller out, and the two little bears and me would walk down the road, to get some french fries at the Greek Deli, next to the barber shop.
Come to think of it, 'they' hadn't bulldozed the trees down behind the cemetery yet either. They did that, after we sold the Laundromat and I got a job at the Hardware Store next to the grocery store. That's when they shut down the video store too. Damn them, who ever 'they' are.
Wasn't that something, how everything in the economy just sort of 'tanked' at the same time? I got to a good stopping point on the windows, came home and never even said good bye. We sold it to a guy, that sold it to a corporation that had the money to buy all new computerized washers and dryers, 24 hour surveillance.
I've still got some stories from those days. I think enough time has gone by, we're safe now. (Famous last words)
Before we bought the laundromat, I had a news paper route. Every morning for 6 years, started my day, at 3 am.
ReplyDeletehmmm....
'C'mon, Little Buddy. Time to go.' Grab the thermos, and Jump in the old Subaru. Head across town on hwy 75, to pull up in line at the Library Parking lot, with every other car in my district to get my 3 or 4 bundles. 200 miles, on the left hand side of the road, in the dark. Usual days, finish up just before the sun starts to rise.
Head on home.
Sometimes, I'd make a quick pull thru the cemetery. Stop at the top of the hill, light a smoke, look out over the shopping center where the laundromat was. At this time, there's still woods all the way up the hill behind me. We don't own the laundromat yet. We just open and close, for 6 rolls of quarters a week. Quick sweep. It was nasty. Kinda creepy, the laundromat, at that time. Real dirty. Walls painted that industrial beige, sorta greenish yellow? ewww...I'd get in and out of there, as quick as I could. Was glad for the dog, waiting for me in the car. I had found Little Buddy on the road, on my route a few years back, and never had to train him. He knew his job, was to guard me and my babies.
I've been googling a bit.
ReplyDeleteFor the life of me, I can't think of the name of group of Russians that used to come in the chat rooms back in the early days of the internet, before cellphones. It was all on the big screen. They would do poetry and lines of letters that would form pictures of scenery or faces along with written musical notes that would scroll by in a rhythm and get in your mind.
I've been 'hypnotized' a few times late late at night, when the house was quiet and the babies were asleep, and the Grizzly Bear (my husband) was out of town, I'd stay up until the wee hours of the morning, just reading until I could 'hear' them, and before I realized it I was in the zone, understanding these other languages, and then I would dream about the words scrolling by and the people would come to life, and I wouldn't be sure if it was 'real' or not. Did I read that, or I did I dream it? I knew it was a bit dangerous, but it was so addicting.
This didn't happen all the time, and only when I wasn't actively trying to find them.
They'd find me. After awhile, my computer started messing up, and my mind was getting a bit fixated, losing track of time even during the day. When my husband's brother, who lived next door to us died while I was online, I started thinking maybe this isn't such a good idea and I shut the machine down for awhile. I took it apart and packed it up, put it in the garage for a good few months.
When I came back online, all those rooms that I used to frequent were gone.
I found a few others that were fun, started chatting again, but a bit more cautiously this time. These people, most of them were really entertaining, very very funny and role playing types. Most of them were from England and Canada and Australia.
But, along with them were some very disturbed individuals. One has convicted of murder, and another of stalking, and worse. All verified by reading the news. That's when I got off the computer and put it up, for the second time. Right about 2005, I'm thinking. I didn't go as far as to put my computer away in boxes in the garage, this time. Just in another room, with no internet connection. This is something I've never told my family about, either. That I had been writing back and forth to people on message boards every day that had ruined other people's lives, by falling in love online and after being rejected to get their revenge by contacting their families and their jobs. All for the drama of it, and a place to stay.
The danger was there, but so was the thrill. I knew I'd come back, eventually.