Old Fashioned Girl

Trying as ever, to be kinder to the environment and reduce my carbon footprint, supported all the way by Darling Boyf (although his motivation is slightly more fiscal than environmental), I have invested in a cast iron, pulley operated clothes airer. "A versatile and sustainable alternative to the tumble dryer" so says the leaflet.

I am rather obsessive about the laundering of clothes. I love nothing more during the summer months than to spend my days hanging the washing on the line. I then settle myself down in the conservatory with a good book, regularly looking out on to the garden to behold my clean shirts, towels and sheets blowing in the summer breeze. I leave the doors of the conservatory opened wide and the gentle warm wind makes its way through my washing into the conservatory and through the house. The clean feeling and the fresh, summer air remains in the house as night falls and the smell of new air stays with us until morning when the process may be commenced again.

The winter is quite different in this respect. The joy I gain is different. The softness of the towels as they are taken from the tumble dryer, the smell of the fabric softener as it travels through the kitchen from the damp clothes that I have placed on the aga to dry. Still nice but not half as satisfying.

I am very careful about using the tumble dryer. Firstly, because I worry about shrinking garments and secondly because of the huge amount of energy consumption required to run the tumble dryer.

When I was a child my Grandma (whom I adored) had a twin tub and a pulley clothes airer that was suspended from the ceiling in the kitchen. It brings back such lovely memories and is a reminder of simpler times.

I cannot wait for darling boyf to erect said clothes airer over the aga. I am hoping that will negate the use of the tumble dryer altogether. Exept, of course, for towels which take so much longer to dry and end up hanging round for days making my already untidy house look even more untidy.

I realise that this may make me appear somewhat sad. I am sure if anyone reads this they may think "that girl needs to get out more". And, they would probably be right. And I will...just one more load.