My washing machine broke down recently. I knew it had broken down because Mel started exclaiming "There's water all over the laundry room floor!!". When she starts saying things like that, I know it's never a good sign. Nevertheless, after much cleaning, tinkering and salvaging what was left of the still soaked laundry, it turns out that I have absolutely no idea what happened to the washing machine. Either way we're going to have to wait for our landlord to come back from his holiday to replace it, which means we're going to have to go without modern technology for a while.

It's almost frightening to know just how much we take our daily dose of technology for granted, much like our back and knees. Not to say you have technologically advanced back and knees. It's just that if they give out, you're going to know how much much you actually use them…and boy do we have a lot of clothes for just three people. Then again, it's summer, it's understandable.

Even though I'm a city boy, that doesn't mean I'm stuck trying to find the nearest laundromat to wash my clothes. That incompetent we are not. So in the events that followed, for future references, here are the basic do's and don't just in case this sort of thing happens to you.

1. Go easy on what you wear. Wearing only your bathrobe all day for instance doesn't require you to do much washing.
2. Recycle. If it doesn't cause animals to howl or climb up walls when you throw it against one. It's probably still safe to wear.
3. Don't put off the washing. The downside is you're going to be washing a lot. The upside is, you don't have to spend all day on laundry that piled up for the last 2 weeks.
4. Not too much detergent. Unless you want to be spending the rest of the day rinsing out your clothes with fresh water, it's not alright to put several spoonfuls, it won't make it any cleaner.
5. Buy a new washing machine as soon as possible. After all that's done, you might as well resign to the fact that you probably can't live without one.

And there we have it, the simple way to live your life in case your washing machine breaks down. It is not something catastrophic. In the contrary. It's something that tells you exactly where you are in life. Whether you're the master of your own world or a slave to something we've created for our own benefit. At least I know my world won't crumble from it. At least not until they run out of new washing machines in the nearest department store.

I shudder to think of what may happen if that ever comes.