A pox on all their houses

I have one major problem with the group I would usually refer to as my college 'friends'.

The thing is, they mention Stuff That Can Happen - and then it happens to me.

I lived in blissful ignorance that underwires can work their way out of bras for years before one of these college friends complained about it within my hearing. Voila, within a couple of weeks it happened to me.

Again, I had no idea that desktop computers had a battery that assisted them to store settings and things like the date. A friend complained and BANG my computer woke up next morning thinking we'd taken a little trip back to 1950-something and my screensaver was gone.

I've left college now. I should be safe from the jinx. But no, I still keep up with things going on in the lives of some of those I lived with at college. This is obviously a mistake.

My friend Givinya over at Killing a Fly complained about washing. She has two kids more than me, so her laundry pile is going to be huge. She's entitled to complain. But not when you consider the effect of the college friend jinx.

My washing used to be one load a week at college; expanded to between 1-2 when I lived by myself and had to add household linen. When we married it would probably have become more than that, but we lived out of town (i.e. rainwater tank supply, not reticulated) and I had to use the super-economical twin tub where you can wash everything you ever owned successively in one tub full of water. It's hard to get a comparison.

We recently got our greasy mits on a second hand automatic washing machine. So I've been celebrating the fact that I don't have to spend hours on a Saturday standing over the twin tub pulling stuff out of the washing tub and putting it into the spinner, rinsing it by hand, and spinning again before the next load of washing is ready for the spinner. Then rushing out to hang the last load while the next one is spinning. I did have it down to a fine art, but it is wonderful to leave the machine and come back 30 mins later to hang it out.

When I got back from Grandad's I knew I would have some washing to do for my Beloved, despite the fact I'd washed most of my stuff and some of his. I did not sign up for this amount of washing, and for some reason it feels like more when you can assign a specific number of loads to it.

How much do I hate my college friends right now?

...Approximately None (despite everything)