washing clothes across the world

People in Venice would have revolted! I can't imagine anyone in Eureka or Arcata complaining about clotheslines. In Eureka I had a sturdy cable going from the back of the house to garage number 2 (I say that with humor, the first garage being a shack on dirt and the second, a boat house that had a near hundred year old rotting plank floor....). The cable was good, I could put rugs on it and whack them with a broom..

Ah, well. There is talk of an actual planned housing neighborhood up in that area, which may or may not happen, but if it does, I wonder re the laundry bit.

my father, when living in Centennial Colo wrote a petition to require that all home owners mow their lawns in alternate directions weekly. this was intended to be presented to the city council to write an ordinance for enforcement. You'd be surprised how many of his neighbors signed that petition. (Fortunately not enough) anyway my mom had a folding (like a umbrella) rack for drying laundry in the back yard she used a lot.

Right, I remember lots of umbrella clothes rack things, especially in LA, even up into the 90's.

Very sensible man, your father.

<ducks and runs for cover>



Honestly, are you absolutely positive this man was your biological father? I just see no resemblance at all. You probably don't even look like him.

I remember playing on the clothes line in our backyard when I was a kid. Mom had a washing machine for years before she got a dryer.

Now that everyone seems to be trying to outdo each other being "green," I fully expect we will see a return to line drying in urban areas. But probably not suburbs. God forbid they might have to look at someone else's underwear!

yes, quite a successful businessman and a complete lunatic.

Which brings up the possible precise positioning of evergreen trees..

We once had a client that was in desperate need of blocking her own view of a neighbor's newly violet two story peak roofed house. We picked a row of exceptionally fast conifers..

who has time for clothes

always hang fully rooted harvested plants upside down inside to dry

How esquisitely environmentally conscious.

From what I've heard of him, I'd say his main redeeming feature was having had you for a son. More luck than he knew what to do with, I suppose.

It has nothing to do with environmental consciousness, Roger. You have to park all vehicles on hard surfaces here. The city can't tow junked cars if they're stuck in mud.

Right. And if you can't see them through the lawn, how can they find them to tow them.

Don't get me started on mowing regulations, Roger.

We only dry our washing outside ... in winter in the drying room in the cellar, though.

(Washing hanging outside: a common picture here in former times .... and you knew that it was Monday .)

gotta love how closely sited that x is to the s in

sesquisite

it sounds like A2K's new thread SEX QUIZ SITE

and me without an opener

I saw on TV about not hanging washing clothes outside in USA. I have forgotten where it was. Not only were you not allowed to hang the clothes outside but a lady from the city hall was driving around checking the city areas regularly.
I thought this is a real waste of energy.

That is a horrible waste of energy Saab - but I wouldn't say that's the norm in the US.
I've always been able to hang out my clothes in the US. It depends on what sort of neighborhood you choose to buy a house in. I wouldn't buy a house in a neighborhood that wanted to tell me what I could or couldn't do to that extent.
Who would even want to live in a neighborhood like that?

I love the actual act of hanging out clothes. Seriously. It's one of my favorite bits of housework - probably because I get to do it outside.

When the rains come and it gets cold, I hang my clothes on the radiators.

I do have a dryer but it's the rare occasion that I ever use it - I'd say I use it ten or twelve times a year - actually probably less than once a month.
Along with feeling that I'm killing two birds with one stone - since I have to have the heating on, I'll also dry the clothes with it instead of using extra electricity - I also feel I'm getting some good exercise that way - carrying the clothes basket full of wet clothes up and down the stairs from radiator to radiator and then walking up and down the stairs collecting the dry clothes off the radiators from each room in the house.

This one looks like a still from a Kar Wai Wong film. He directs very luscious and Hopperesque tales of romance and melancholy.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0939182/
Thanks Ossobucco for another set of great eye worthy photographs!

When I can I hang the cloth outside too. otherwise I hang the cloth on a racket in our guest room. Now and then I do use the dryer especially for towels.

In the summercabin I hang out the cloth but use the dryer as things do not dry so well by an ocean with all the salt in the air. Let things have outside during the day and then use the dryer for 15 minutes to take out the dampness.

Visiting relatives in USA they hung their cloth outside too where they lived.