Being Janitor

I'd forgotten D would be full-time for a few weeks before classes resume in Athens, so was surprised to see him this morning. Very cold, single digits, a merciless wind. We go to get coffee and scones, then to the Janitorial Supply store because I really need a new mop head and a cleaning product called Damp Mop that is my favorite floor cleaning agent. The floor in the main gallery is badly soiled, from the many events this fall. D and I agreed to rent a power scrubber next month and deep clean, then resurface, but in the mean time it needs attention. Damp Mop is a powerful cleaner that doesn't need rinsing. I don't know how they do that. Spartan Chemical Company. They stick with plain names, other products include Terra Glaze (the resurfacing finish we'll use), BH-38, which will remove tar from a wood floor without destroying the wood, and Xtraction II, which will clean glue residue from concrete. I mix up a batch of Damp Mop in my rolling Rubbermaid bucket (with attached Geerpres Floor-Prince mop wringer) because a new mop head needs soaking for a couple of hours. And the new mop head is a thing of beauty, a redesigned 32 ounce Fantail Loop that brings tears to my eyes. The two sides, continuous strings, are separated by top and bottom gussets of some very heavy red synthetic material, protecting the mop itself from the bail that holds the head to the handle. The gussets used to be just wide enough to accept the bail, now, in the new and improved model, they're four inches wide. A dramatic redesign, because on the second squeeze professionals use for wringing a mop, the doubled gusset serves as a sort of top plate for expressing excess water. Very clever. Fantail, in the name, comes from the fact that every dozen strings, near the working end, are gathered together and stitched around with a muslin band. Another great advancement which adds great strength to the ends of the strings, where failure is most common. Altogether, a wonderful mop head, and when I get it mounted on the handle, before I put it in to soak, I take it upstairs to show Pegi, who allows that it is quite handsome but doesn't really share my level of enthusiasm. Civilians. The enhanced wringability alone makes this the mop of my dreams. Before I can use it, I have to collect the trash, dust-mop the bays into piles, clean ground cookies from the grout joints with a knife, and it is after lunch before I can swing my modified chevron, with the new girl on my arm. She glides like a Greek nymph at the end of my out-stretched reach; leading me, leading her, in a dance I've never done before. I surprise a couple of visitors, humming Strauss (I hate Strauss) waltzing with my mop across the floor. What conspires. A wonderful day.