The (Post) Spring Clean

by Sharon Archer

Reading: Outside The Ordinary World, Dori Ostermiller

Listening: The Beach Boys

Making me smile: The smell of freshly deodorised carpets!


We’ve had the wettest summer since records began here in Victoria. In fact, nearly half our annual rainfall has come in what would normally be our driest months. There have even been days when we’ve had humidity on a par with the tropics.

With all that dampness, summer warmth and probably the ghosts of much-loved pets, our tatty old carpet has developed an unpleasant mustiness.

Something had to be done!

Carpet and furniture cleaning!

I rifled the Yellow Pages and found the perfect answer – drycleaning! Having experienced carpets after a wet-cleaning process many years ago, the last thing I wanted was to introduce more moisture!

I rang, I quizzed, I booked!

Furniture was moved, carpet that hadn’t seen the light of day for years was exposed, dust bunnies were routed.

And finally, the big day arrived.

The technician was right on time. We walked through the house, discussed electrical connections to be worked around and where the cleaning unit would fit and which items of furniture were to be cleaned.

And then he said the fateful words... “Of course, you’ll have to have somewhere to separate the cushions.”

“Separate the cushions?”

“To dry.”

“Dry?”

“The upholstery will be quite wet, because it’s a different process.”

Yikes. “Okay, then let’s not worry about the furniture. Let’s just do the carpets.”





“You do realise the carpet will be slightly damp?” he said.

“Damp?”

“Yes. Didn’t you ask?” the technician said.

Well, actually, no! It said drycleaning! How was I to know it really meant driercleaning!

I cancelled the job, pouted for a while and then hit the supermarket for carpet deodoriser. So now the carpets have been powdered and vacuumed and pampered. The musty smell has gone so my nose is happy.

And I got to pondering about the chicken-and-egg conundrum of asking the right questions... if you don't know the right information in the first place, how do you know what the right questions are? And if you do know the right information... well, surely you don’t need to ask the question...

What do you think? I’m still scratching my head!

Public Domain Pictures from www.wpclipart.com