At 53, I still take my washing home to mum, says Adrian
ADRIAN Chiles has admitted he still takes his washing and ironing to his mum’s house – at the age of 53.
The former One Show and Match of the Day 2 presenter said that before the national lockdowns he would drive his laundry to the Midlands for his mum Ljerka to tackle.
That meant he travelled 125 miles from his home in Chiswick, west London, to his parents’ home in Stourbridge.
Speaking yesterday, Adrian, who is a father of two, said he had only just mastered the art of ironing during the current lockdown.
But he admitted he was finding “great solace” in the chore.
Adrian said: “I had only ever ironed one thing before. It was a shirt, about 25 years ago.
“Ever since then, I have bothered ironing anything.
“If there was someone else willing not to do it, for then so be it.
“In the former category, there has only ever been my mum. When she came to visit, a pile of stuff was magically done.
“Even pants, socks and hankies were pressed into submission.”
He also told the G2 supplement: “When I visited my parents, I would take bags of washed and, indeed, unwashed clothes for a loving maternal flattening.
“My partner pointed out that, at the age of 53, this was an effing disgrace and I ought to be
love or money, ashamed of myself. She had a point. So the pandemic rescued me – and my mum’s right arm – from myself.”
Adrian said that last week he finally plugged in an iron at his home and worked his way through a 6ft pile of shirts, trousers, hankies and tea towels.
He added: “As I pressed, folded, pressed again and folded again, I found myself in a new place mentally.
“A place where, in my own small way, I was imposing order on a chaotic world. Bliss.”