Let’s Get Prosaic
Wednesday, March 18th, 19982:24 PM, Wednesday afternoon. Let’s get a bit prosaic.
It’s another day of milky, directionless illumination here. The air is cool. The ground is wet. I’ve been cleaning a bathroom.
Often, I make elaborate plans on the exact way I’m going to do something — so that things work out just right. Then I end up cutting corners, skipping steps, and doing something that approximates my original intention but doesn’t quite fulfill my initial idea.
However, with the spring cleaning of my bathroom I am determined to do it right. I have to tell you upfront: I’m not unduly squeamish but I don’t exactly get a huge buzz out of cleaning toilets. Then again, I doubt many people do.
I’ve been cleaning out the cabinet under the sink, scrubbing the tub, washing and trying to fix the shower doors and, yes indeedy, swabbing down the toilet. It’s not what I’d call fun — but in the end (no pun intended) this is going to be one neat and clean bathroom, baby!
I found a pair of miss-matched rubber gloves (one day-glo yellow and the other sky blue) that I wore for the toilet extravaganza. The yellow glove fit fine but the blue one was like made for elves or something. I mean, I have small hands but I really had to cram my left hand into this sucker. So I’m scrubbing and sloshing and generally making that toilet shine — and then I’m done and have to take the gloves off.
I try pulling off the blue glove: no such luck. I get half of it turned inside-out over my left hand. So I figure I’ll take off the yellow one. I grab the tips of the fingers and pull…and the yellow glove’s fingertips rip right off. So I’m standing there in my cut-off scrubs, with a yellow rubber glove (missing a few fingertips) on my right hand, a super-tight sky blue rubber glove hanging half inside-out on my left hand, my hair tangled in my face, with a shiny happy toilet gleaming beside me.
Well, I don’t know, I thought it was funny. Maybe it was the fumes from where I sprayed down the entire bathtub/shower with tile cleaner (a mistake — I should have done a little bit at a time). I guess you had to be there.
Anyway, today I’m going to re-paint the inside of the medicine cabinet — and maybe wash the floor and walls. After everything is done I should put a lounge chair in the bathroom and just sit there for a while admiring my handiwork.
Then again, maybe not…
(Oh yeah, I did eventually get the rubber gloves off.)
— JWR, 3/18/98