It was a white wash day today, not white-wash paint, or a whitewash in terms of a cover-up, although, as it happens a cover-up would have been mighty difficult in the circumstances.  You see, earlier on, Roland (our visitor from Australia) had put his towel in the white wash (his towel was white, of course) and maybe because he had put it in the wash himself I simply forgot to replace it…

Roland came out of the shower a few minutes ago. He wasn’t wet, in fact he was completely dry and fully clothed, but he looked as though he was about to burst out laughing…

“I may be a Philistine,” he said, coming into my studio, “but I do require a towel when I come out of the shower.”

Now I’m not sure what being a “Philistine” had to do with anything but I did feel a bit responsible for not replacing the towel – but I didn’t want him to think I was responsible.

“Why didn’t you check before you took your shower?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Do you check every time you shower?” he retorted.

“Yes,” I fibbed then laughed and added, “well I’m sure I would have noticed.”

Our friend looked at me in disbelief.

“I checked out the flannel and thought, no,” he began again and we both chortled at the thought of him drying himself with a flannel. “So what do you think I used then?” he asked.

The airing cupboards don’t live in Roland’s quarter’s – he would have had to go naked down the passage and into the other bathroom to find the upstairs airing cupboard, and I couldn’t imagine him doing that. However, in the fitted wardrobe in his room I keep my sewing machine… and the old towel I use to put under it when it is on the tabletop.

“The towel for the sewing machine!” we blurted out in unison.

“I hope there weren’t any old pins in it?” I giggled.

“No, but I checked,” he answered. “I expect that towel has been used for the last six years?”

“Only about about two, but it’s still clean,” I said hopefully (after all, how dirty could it have gotten in the cupboard?).

He might have thought it was a bit of a whitewash on my part.

Think I’ll just take a couple of towels upstairs now….