How do you get your car washed? There was a time when everyone seemed to wash them by hand, legions of people out at the weekend with buckets and sponges (or power-washers now, I suppose). Then came those automatic washes with swirly plastic brushes and conveyor belts to pull you through the system, quite terrifying! They seem to have all-but gone out of fashion round here, and now everyone goes to a 'hand-wash' centre like this, where an army of young men rush round with hoses and chamois cloths, spraying, shampooing and mopping. I suspect they are all on minimum-wage zero hours contracts and sometimes I feel I am exploiting them, but I suppose they might be glad of a job of any sort. Qasim's is the one nearest to me, situated in what used to be a petrol station. They do a pretty good job. It's worth it to me at £5 a wash. I don't own a power-washer and life's too short for a bucket, sponge and numerous trips through the house to the kitchen tap and back. Anyway I park my car on a narrow street, so doing anything at the edge of the road is pretty hazardous.
I don't own a car so I don't have that problem.
ReplyDeletethe automatic was has made a comeback here in Arizona. There is a chain of them that have recently popped and the cost for the wash is very minimal. I should do a post about them.
ReplyDeleteThere is a very good hand wash place near here, though I admit that every now and then I go out and do it myself when I want to be absolutely sure to remove some of the pitch and tar that inevitably ends up marring the car's finish.
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