Holiday memories: the red wine stain

One evening after coming home from a show at Grahamstown we decided to drink some red wine.

Sandra kept balancing her glass all evening in precarious positions on the bed. It made me feel very nervous, seeing all the bedding was in a very pale cream color.

But, somehow, the glass never actually tipped enough to spill anything. I eventually went to sleep to Sandra's disgruntlement - as she thought I should not be asleep. And so she kept waking me up. And I kept falling asleep. And she kept waking me up.

And then.... I got woken up and I moved my arm; and I felt my arm knock her arm in which she had a full glass of merlot red wine... and it was all over a pillow, and a sheet and a bed.

Well... for the rest of the night we accused each other of being the one who actually spilled the red wine. We did not get much sleep. (In fact to this day there is absolutely no agreement on who was the one to blame. I don't see how it can be my fault as I was asleep, but anyhows Sandra, I am sure, can provide you with a twenty minute monologue on why it could not possibly have been her fault in any way whatsoever.)

The red wine stain looked quite bad. The bedding was clearly new; and it looked like it may have soaked into the new bed as well. We immediately had reacted by putting vast amounts of salt on the marks... but still...

The next morning we showed the char what we had done. She looked very disturbed.

And so were we... How much were we going to have to pay to for the damage? Would it just be one duvet cover and pillow case, or a whole set? Sandra believed we may have to buy a new bed!

We saw a very good play that morning by Berkoff about a poor working class girl in London whose life was pretty sad and self-destructive. Sandra thoroughly enjoyed it.

We then went back to the garden cottage to see how bad the damage was after the char had tried to see if she could salvage the situation.

...and...

the wine stains had been completely removed. OK. There was some tiny discolouration on the bed mattress itself, but very minor (almost to the point of non-existence). And the sheet, pillows, pillowcase, duvet were just like new.

We were shocked.

We were amazed.

The char said she used Preen Vanish.

I gave her a big tip as a thank-you for her amazing act of washing skill.

later...