Cleaning windows
by kasia_eight_thirty on February 3, 2008
in students
It isn’t an everyday routine like washing hands or dishes, but I have to do this a few times a year. Since I moved to my own home, in the attic, I’ve seen the world differently. Most of the windows are skylights in the roof, so I see only the crowns of big trees, flying birds and clouds floating across the sky, the sun and the moon.
My clean windows are like my glasses, through which the world outside becomes closer and more beautiful. I try to clean them whenever they look dirty. Nature often helps me when it rains or snows. But normally I take a bowl filled with warm water, washing liquid, and a soft sponge. I move it gently on the cold, smooth slippery surface. The pane becomes more transparent. The sponge absorbs dirty waterdrops. The water in the bowl becomes grey. Then I use a special spray, covering the glass gently with a mist. It smells sharp and suffocating.
For a moment the world becomes blurred. Then I take a windscreen wiper and with each stroke I see more of the world again. At the end I smooth the glass with a soft blue cloth to make it so clean that the border between the outside and inside disappears.
When it rains, I observe raindrops, like a cascade, taking dust and leaves away. When it snows, all the windows are wrapped up in a white cushion. In the morning the snow slides down, like a curtain in the theatre, and the spectacle begins again – a new day with birds, clouds, the sun …
The skylights in the roof make me think of life. The sad queen Elizabeth said in the film The Golden Age: “There is an invisible pane between me and others. They can see me, but they can’t touch me.” Between me and the world outside is a pane, too. I can only watch it, but never touch it.