sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

On Washing

Here's a thing I've noticed. When I go round to my regular/good friends' houses, they often have washing drying on an airer-type thing. So do I - mostly in my spare room, ocassionally in the living room, if I've been trying (in vain) to dry my clothes in the zone-two smog outside.

My parents, and their friends, and my friends' parents, never have their drying hanging over the radiators, or airers strewn about the house.

I have a whole bunch of friends who live in substantial houses in Hampstead or Putney or Wimbledon, or somewhere charming, and they don't either. Although, it's possible that they have a whole room dedicated to clothes washage (lavage).

So they're cancelled out, people with special washing rooms. But other people?

I think there's a few explanations.

One is, my parents, and most of their friends, use the drier a lot more. So things probably don't need drying, because they've sapped the planet's energy. Although their house is tidy.

Another option is, maybe they just do drying in "office hours", not when people visit. Possible.

Another possibility is that they just do less washing. So when I'm there, it's not a day when there's been washing recently. Lots of my friends have children, which create more washing, hence volume of drying hanging around.

Most of my friends are pale-green or green-ish, or just feel guilty if darker green friends come round with raised eyebrows about their washing practice. I try not to be judgemental.

Personally, it only dawned on me a few years ago how bad the drying cycle is, how much energy it wastes. So I just hang things out to dry, now.

I don't know why this came into my head. It's strange, in there, sometimes.