Squid Game on my balcony

Around a year ago, my washing machine started adding black flakes to my clothes. I could usually shake them off, but sometimes I’d need repeated washes to dislodge the smallest pieces of crap.

A maddening nuisance I never encountered in New Zealand.

I guessed they were bits of rubber from a failing seal. But the reality was more sinister: they were actually specks of black mold.

Apparently black mold in washing machines is a common problem in humid Taiwan, where the default approach is to keep your machine on the balcony:

For a year, I tried a bunch of specialized washing machine cleaning products. But all they did was dislodge even more mold. (I realize that was the point, but each time it took up to two-dozen heavy-duty cleaning cycles for the mold to disappear completely. It was infuriating.)

When the mold made a vengeful comeback this month, I finally decided to hire a professional: someone who cleans washing machines for a living. It’s a specialization I hadn’t heard of before, but which, by all accounts, is incredibly useful in Taiwan.

And that’s true of my experience as well. After completely dismantling, cleaning, and reassembling my washing machine (think alarming grinding sounds and water spraying everywhere for an hour), the cleaner—who was dressed exactly like a soldier from Squid Game, only without the mask and submachine gun—presented me with a shockingly clean result:

While the cleaner had been working some magic on my balcony, I’d read a sheepishly-positive review of the new Meghan Markle show on Netflix.

Unlike Squid Game, it’s something I will never, ever watch.

But, with my year-long mold drama finally at a close, I have to concede that—as the author wrote in her review—maybe Meghan Markle was right. Maybe the little things do matter.

You’d lose all cynicism too, if presented with a mold-free washing machine.