The English approach to laundry -- and the laundry fork

I think pretty much every expat in the UK who has a blog has devoted at least one or two posts to the different attitude that is taken to laundry here. I just feel compelled to write about it myself today.

Today is a glorious sunny day in the mid 20s (80s F), with a light breeze and clear skies. My first reaction to weather like this? When I was in California it was "beach day!" And even though growing up in Ohio where we grilled our dinner outside even in the dead of winter, I still think of days like this as "what a great day for a BBQ!" But having moved to England and learned the idiosyncracies of laundry here -- now I'm starting to find my first reaction is "what a great laundry day!" (Yes..that is sad on so many levels, I know.)

You see, most US houses have a tumble dryer. In fact, it is so common, we just call it a "dryer." Here in England, when you say "dryer" you could be refering to the little stand next to your sink where dishes dry, a towel, or even the (grumbling) kid in your family who needs to dry the dishes-- but rarely do they mean the big white appliance that dries clothing. You know what that is? Because nobody has them. Ok -- maybe that is a teeny bit of an over-exaggeration. 10% of people have tumble dryers. The rest do not. Despite the fact that this is probably one of the grayest and rainiest countries in the world, people here mainly line-dry their laundry.

Why? I can't seem to figure this out. One reason given by most people is that they are energy-concious and don't want to waste resources in drying laundry that can be dried outside. I'd say that makes a good deal of sense on a beautiful day like today, so this gets me part-way to understanding the reasoning. But when you live in a little apartment (or even a not-so-little house) and you are trying to wash (and dry!) sheets in the middle of the winter -- the energy-saving arguement doesn't really fit against what a pain it is to get all of your linens arranged on drying horses and all around the furniture all over your house. This all might leave my American friends scratching their heads. Why wouldn't they get dryers? They're not more expensive than in the US...or hard to find. You know...I have no idea, but I can guarantee you that if you walk down a street in the winter and look in the windows of the homes -- you'll see people camped out under laundry tents in their living rooms.

I suspect the lack of tumble dryers here has a lot to do with space. The houses are a lot smaller and were built quite a long time ago in comparison to many American houses. It is rare for homes to have a garage where a dryer could be annexed. In fact, as many living overseas know, the actual washing machine is usually jerry-rigged under the countertop in the kitchen due to lack of "laundry room" which we have in the states. That -- or people just didn't have them in the 60s in the bulk that we implemented them in the US (here there was still a post-war recession while the US had the post-war boom) and they entire idea never took off? Hmmm...

Whatever the reason, in the winter, I miss my tumble dryer. In the summer, I honestly miss it too as at our last apartment I always had to frantically chase Paul out the door to the communal laundry line to remove all my underwear so that I could hang them indoors. (I mean....I didn't want our NEIGHBORS to see my knickers!)

I tell you all of this to share with you the laundry situation at our new house. When we moved in -- we were both delighted with our new "conservatory" (US equivalent = sun room? glassed-in porch?)I daydreamed about winter mornings where it would be warm in there and I could sit with a cup of coffee and watch the birds in our back garden.When we had friends over for a BBQ the other day, I realized just how "American" my reaction was to this room -- as every single English person made about the same remark when they first saw our conservatory. "Ooooooh.....ahhhhh." Yeah -- I liked that part, too! Then, "this room will be so GREAT at drying your laundry in the winter!" What? No sipping coffee watching birds? Laundry?!?

I will leave you with one image that makes me giggle each time I hang the laundry. For those of you like myself who have been spoiled your entire life with tumble dryers -- when you have a really big laundry line -- it sometimes sags in the middle and you need something called a laundry pole to hold it up. They usually are a type of telescoping stick with a prong on the end. when we moved in to our new house, we found this hand-made laundry pole:Look closer and enjoy the ingenuity!: