I stopped to speak to someone I shall call Miss Haversham this morning.
I nicknamed her this because she was wearing a rather unruly hairstyle with dressing gown and slippers.
It was late morning.
I haven's seen her in a while so we got to chatting about new characters that have moved into the newly bought and rented houses nearby.
I told her that I would send all newcomers a letter from the Flower Show, welcoming them to the village.
She pointed to a house across the road and asked if I was going include them in the correspondence.
" I have my own ideas about them" she said somewhat conspiratorially
" oh yes?" I said
" Yes" she whispered " They leave their washing on the line overnight!!!!!!"
"Ohhhhhhh" I replied, totally unable to grasp the significance of the statement
And in way of explanation, Mrs Haversham said " It's a bit like people who always leave their pegs on the line"
I walked away non the wiser.
I nicknamed her this because she was wearing a rather unruly hairstyle with dressing gown and slippers.
It was late morning.
I haven's seen her in a while so we got to chatting about new characters that have moved into the newly bought and rented houses nearby.
I told her that I would send all newcomers a letter from the Flower Show, welcoming them to the village.
She pointed to a house across the road and asked if I was going include them in the correspondence.
" I have my own ideas about them" she said somewhat conspiratorially
" oh yes?" I said
" Yes" she whispered " They leave their washing on the line overnight!!!!!!"
"Ohhhhhhh" I replied, totally unable to grasp the significance of the statement
And in way of explanation, Mrs Haversham said " It's a bit like people who always leave their pegs on the line"
I walked away non the wiser.
so I got a chuckle out of her comment, but I'm scratching my head as to what in the world did she mean to say?
ReplyDeleteBut it makes the job go quicker if the pegs are on the line.
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DeleteNo magic in laundry anyway, so not much was lost with the Google intrusion.
DeleteShe wouldn't like the man along the gardens from us, he leaves his washing out for days
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
De gustibus and so forth. xo
ReplyDeleteI had no idea my washing line was such an acute indicator of my social status.
ReplyDeleteHa ha Nick, I'm afraid it is...very well off people or aspiring yuppies don't even HAVE a washing line ... I hasten to add that I do have one! I'm sure the neighbours think I'm not worth bothering with.
DeleteI think it's because some people will find they look lazy or sloppy if they leave laundry out, people will worry that their place will start to look untidy as well.
ReplyDeleteOvernight washing + pegs on line = riff raff. Simples.
ReplyDeleteR u fit as a fiddle today then?
Not really
DeleteMy grandmother believed that night air wasn't healthy, and that the only really right way to air laundry was in full sun.
ReplyDeleteAs for pegs on the line - I'm sure that nothing so unspeakably vulgar would even have occurred to her.
When we lived in the desert in the 90's, I worked all day. I did my washing at night and hung it out on the line. We never had rain so the washing was dry in the morning! Pegs left on the line - ooh no, that's not tidy at all!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness...NOT leaving their wash on the line overnight. Why that's...that's......You know I don't have a clue either.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a scene from a movie. She must think that leaving clothes on the line is what lower class people do. I hope that you are feeling better!
ReplyDeleteThe horror! Probably leave their car parked in the drive too. :)
ReplyDeleteOh obviously I'm a slattern with my laundry habits. I don't usually leave clothes on the line overnight, but I do leave my pegs out.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Miss Havisham needs pegging out on a line! This is 2017. We can leave our washing on the line overnight if we want to!
ReplyDeleteClearly they have no laundry etiquette. Never leave your washing out overnight. Pegs should be gathered in a peg bag. Never mix coloured and whites. Underwear should never be obviously on display (hidden behind the sheets).
ReplyDeleteSo funny. My grandmother taught me
Deletethe very same rules.
Her reason for not leaving it overnight,
birds would land and poop on it.
YES! Hiding the underwear behind the sheets. I never realised this was a thing until now. And I do!!
DeleteFFS, WHO CARES; life is more important than washing on the line; miss h needs to get a life!
ReplyDeletelike notesfromabroad up there, I have a washer/dryer in my basement; I am doing laundry as I type this. easy peasy.
Just because something isn't important to YOU, doesn't mean it isn't important to someone else. Easy, peasy. We need Ms Haver/ishams in our lives. Not least their cobwebs.
DeleteU
anne marie, modern conveniences ... some of us like them, some not so much. Personally I would rather have someone to iron my things for me than worry about how they get washed :)
DeleteYes, I'm totally with Miss Haversham, that sort of sluttish behaviour just shouldn't be tolerated in a country village!!!
ReplyDeleteOooops think I've just become my mum.
I would only leave my clothes on the line overnight if an emergency arose but I do leave my pegs on the line.
ReplyDeleteAnd feel guilty about it, every time.
Thanks for the laugh, John. If it weren't for the lost souls in our lives where would we be without a line to peg ourselves on.
ReplyDeleteBird's nest greetings,
U
Years ago, when I still ironed clothes, I left the things I was going to iron on the line. In the morning, the clothes were taken down and rolled for the ironing basket, being the perfect dampness for the iron. That way I actually got to the ironing. Leaving the extra pins on the line isn't wise, in a damp clime, they tend to get moldy after a few days (and nights) making the clothes dirty. I washed and hung clothes with my convenience in mind - screw what the neighbors thought.
ReplyDeleteObviously not in the NE of Scotland. If you peg washing on the line it goes to Scandinavia.
ReplyDeleteHehe! But everybody seems to be missing the real point, you were well enough to take a walk today - great news xx
ReplyDeleteAs a child, in 1950's,60's Manchester, we were never allowed to leave the pegs on the line, they might come off and get dirty and we didn't leave washing out all night 'cause it might rain-Mum's rules!! In Canada my mum had a whirly clothes line thing. Haven't seen an actual clothes line here for probably 30 years and the whirly type for probably 20 years. You have to have a clothes dryer here as you could never put your washing outside 6-7 months of the year as it would just be frozen, never dry.
ReplyDeleteAnother slut here who leaves it out all night and pegs on line. Sorry Miss H is getting above herself. Mental note dont move to Trelawnyd. I know very post people dont have washing lines. They miss out on the smell of fresh undies dried in the fresh air - oooooooooooooooh
ReplyDeleteI'm with Mrs Haversham. I don't keep pegs on the line or leave washing pegged out overnight - only because it might rain or get wet from morning dew! Nice to see you blogging again John and hope you are feeling fighting fit!
ReplyDeleteHANG BLOODY ON, YOU EFFING DRAMA QUEEN! Don't you get enough comments as it is without having to pretend you are at death's door then return without explanation???
ReplyDeleteIm ok
Delete'I'm ok'? Is that it? Jeez. You call me a drama queen. Kinell.
DeleteAnyway, I am still glad you are ok!
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DeleteI haven't hung washing out for years. Too many allergies and too many poopy birds!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up my mother didn't have the luxury of choosing whether to hang the laundry out or not. I can remember her bringing in clothes frozen stiff in the winter. They did seem to get somewhat drier than they were when they came out of the (wringer) washer. By the time they thawed enough to fold, they were dry.
When I was a kid I tried to bend a frozen shirt to see if it would break. My mother didn't like it.
DeleteHah :)
DeleteP. S. I hope your outing means you are feeling better again.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're well enough to go out.
ReplyDeleteI would never ever leave washing out overnight - not because I care what the neighbours think but because it might rain and it'll be damp with dew in the morning. If I have washing out and it rains more than a few spots, I'll wash it again. And I don't leave pegs out because as said above, they go mouldy.
I am a bit of a slattern generally with regard to housework, but obviously I've got higher standards than I realised as far as laundry is concerned !
A lady after my own heart.
ReplyDeleteI live in Alberta and it's currently snowing.
ReplyDeleteI usually hang out my washing from mid-May until the end of October.
Pegs have to come down with the clothes, something my very everything order German husband just doesn't understand.
I grew up in a "what will the neighbours think?" house. I totally understand the mindset. (Not saying I agree with it). My friend gets frowned upon if she hangs her laundry out on a Sunday (supposed to be a "day of rest" i.e. you're going against religion).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you are up and about - so hopefully on the mend? -Jenn
Miss Haversham sounds like a delight! My mother frowned on leaving the pegs on the line too. They get weathered that way and don't last as long.
ReplyDeleteWho cares, but then it doesn't rain very often here ! I'm guilty on both counts....but I only put bed linen out, or the dog's bedding and towels, everything else goes in the dryer. I leave the bedlinen out overnight, the damp night air takes the creases out and it rarely needs ironing.
ReplyDeleteI actually have an English peg bag but no washing line here in the land of the washer/dryer and laundry rooms! Perhaps I should send it to them!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I live in a small cottage-style house so actually I don't have a laundry 'room' either, just a laundry closet in the kitchen.
Are you better now John? Hope so.
Mary in NC -
Leaving washing on the line overnight? How terribly common!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I never leave washing out overnight, mainly because if it rains it'll just need washing again!
Glad you're obviously feeling better! X
The sort of remark made by someone who really hasn#t got enough to do. We once moved into a bungalow and the neighbour came out within a few minutes to tell us that it was a cul de sac where no-one hung out washing on a Sunday. Hope you are better today.
ReplyDeleteI hope you put your washing out the very next Sunday Weaver?
DeleteMe too, Weaver ... that sort of remark just guarantees I will do just that thing ...
DeleteI actually have some gypsy pegs. Anyone else have them? My Mum even brought the washing line in too ! Nothing ever was left out.
ReplyDeleteWe call them Dolly pegs
DeleteOh my gawd, my mother was like that! She would get all in a dither if she didn't like the way the neighbours hung their laundry on the line. If something was crooked, or the nickers weren't all together, or the face cloths, well that would set her right off!
ReplyDeleteIt's illegal here to hang out laundry. I've never in my life used a a line or ''peg'' [I think they're something else here, not pegs]. My mom hung out sheets only, no overnights, no pegs, line brought in after use . Always. Here the sheets would blow across the ocean and land in your back yard, John, we usually have a gale blowing, so the ordinance against is not an issue. [riff raff -y anyway! Tho so is being out and about in one's robe and slippers, so who is Mrs H to throw verbal stones?]
ReplyDeleteYou must have had a miraculous recovery? Prof nursed you back to health?
lizzy
"clothes pins" ? I think they call pegs in the US.
DeleteI hope you are much better.
ReplyDeleteAnd my riff raffy self does leave things out overnight from time to time. Pegs in the peg basket though.
I had to read every comment to figure out what is a peg. So much fun reading them. Is it riff-raffy if you leave your clothes in the auto washer overnight? I would probably love Mrs. robe-and-slippers.
ReplyDeleteyes but it s okay to leave the clothes in the dryer til you have time to fold them, bec you can run the Fluff cycle to de-wrinkle them. [leaving wet clothes in the washer leads to rust, mold, mildew, not good for the clothes or appliance.]
DeletePS It took me all day to think of what the pegs are called here: clothes pins!
DeleteYes, and clothes pins can be wooden , more old fashioned or plastic in all colors .. personally I like the wooden ones.
DeleteNeighbourhood Watch alive & well in your patch then..might be petty but those watchers can be handy! Judgemental.. well thats something else.
ReplyDeleteKarens comment reminded me of a lady who took it one step further..she matched her peg colour to the colour of the clothes - plastic fantastic!!
I am such a slut, I always leave my pegs out in all weathers. Sometimes tiny spiders make their homes in them, it's cosy. What's more, I still have a 50s-style rotary line, AKA a Hill's Hoist. I've never owned a dryer.
ReplyDeleteIn the small coastal town where I grew up, a woman's stature as a housewife was determined on the neat and methodic way she hung out her washing, as in 'she pits oot a lovely line o'washin'! Anything less was worthy of unspeakable names and leaving pegs on the line was a punishable crime(exaggerating a wee bit on that one but the rest is true!).
ReplyDeleteAs a person who often wears PJs late in the day and always has unruly hair, I am also well familiar with leaving the washing overnight. I would have thought Miss Haversham might be as well. I also dont fold the washing on the day it's washed. I will surely go to hell
ReplyDeleteI don't own a dryer, my clothes dry in front of the heater in the winter and outside in the warmer months. There can sometimes be awkward fall or spring weeks when the rains don't quit but the heater is off. Then we have a big wash day and head out to the laundromat to dry everything. My clothespins stay out year round, some of them have lichen growing on them..!
ReplyDeletemamabird, there is nothing like the scent of laundry dried in the fresh air..
DeleteWe have no clothes line ! Boo hoo
DeleteI love post like this . Ones that just have a life of their own
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that no-one thought of the obvious, snow-dropping! Maybe it's an Oz thing, a snow-dropper is usually a bloke who likes to roam around backyards and nick womens undies so perhaps Miss H was too gentile to mention the real reason for getting in those clothes. As for pegs, I had a friend who coddled the damn things so much she was still using pegs inherited from her mother.
ReplyDeleteMy sister didn't use pegs just threw the clothes over the line, truly an underclass of her own.
The last time I left washing out overnight (hey, it wasn't dry!) a lot of it was festooned with bat poop th next morning. And poop from fruit bats is IMPOSSIBLE to remove! So all washing comes in overnight now, wet or dry.
ReplyDeleteeric the fruit bat!
DeleteWales is a wonderful place. My Welsh Aunt was once horrified that I was going to Shrewsbury wearing jeans. She always 'dressed-up' for going to the county town.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing better than sleeping in clean sheets that have been dried outdoors. You're missing a sensory treat if you haven't tried it.
ReplyDeleteMy "step grandmother" would iron her sheets after she brought them in from the clothes line .. now those sheets were nice. My mother bought the polyester things that washed dried and never wrinkled but never felt so soft and silky as my grandmothers .
DeleteIroned sheets, now thats classy
DeletePoor Miss H - definitely needs more to occupy herself! Washing/drying practices seem to be very culturally encoded. In the US, there were communities near San Diego where it was illegal to hang washing outside, and here there are blocks of flats where it's against the rules to hang clothes on balconies - certainly they would turn the place into an eyesore.
ReplyDeleteOur personal habits here are all clothes go on the line, unless it's been raining for a month, when doing a load and using the dryer is acceptable. Likewise, the pegs get put away, and the line rolled back in to keep the small garden neat. I must admit that when I was a new mum I colour coded the washing - red pegs along one side, then blue pegs, then green etc..... and I got white emotional about how lovely the gazillion nappies looked..... I suspect I had a touch of PND!! Now they can be thankful to have pegs on them!
Post Scriptum.... Glad you were at least up to taking the dogs out John. Hope you're firing on all cylinders again soon.
ReplyDeleteI make a point of putting my washing out at night then it is there drying first thing in the morning !
ReplyDeleteAren't you just dying to know what her "own ideas about them" are?!? Come to think of it, I wonder what ideas she'd have about me! Excuse me while I go take down yesterday's washing.
ReplyDeleteOnly leave clothes on the line during a full moon. xx
ReplyDeleteLOL !!good one :)
DeleteMy mother and grandmothers would have agreed with her. I have always used a dryer - I can't imagine living without one.
ReplyDeleteI did that once in the summer because I had forgotten about it . Next morning Sue's best clothes had gone off the washing line and a small pile of pegs were on the lawn . I never forgot the washing again ,
ReplyDeleteI blame Brexit for such falling standards :)
ReplyDeleteLOL -- people have such funny ideas about what constitutes outrageous behavior!
ReplyDeleteLOL, Steve Reed ...I am waiting for someone to say they only hang their clothes on the line, while wearing no clothes ..
DeleteStandards are slipping!
ReplyDeleteI always like towels to get frosted on the line..they end up beautifully fluffy ( and proper nappies as well, thirty years ago!) I wouldn't leave washing on the line in case it got rained on..inside every raindrop is a speck of dust. However on hot dry summer nights....but when did we last get one of those?!!
ReplyDeleteI can't honestly say the last time I've even seen a clothes line or hanging laundry in the US. I do love the sight of drying sheets in a good breeze!
ReplyDeleteHavisham - unless you really do mean this new character comes from a village near Milton Keynes.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't dare leave my washing on the line overnight .... at the very least it would be blown on to the campsite for all and sundry to comment on.
ReplyDeleteImagine having to go across the road to ask for my knickers back ;-)
I couldn't get this post out of my head all day. It reminded me of my upbringing in rural West Wales (in a family of churchgoers), and that's the point, really.
ReplyDeleteGoing back 50 years, farmers and homeowners would do as little of their work on Sundays as possible. We weren't even allowed to peel spuds, they had to be done the day before. Six days shalt thou labour, and on the seventh, rest - according to the Good Book. Farming then was back-breaking stuff, and people organised their work so they could, apart from the milking, have a day of rest. Women generally didn't have jobs outside of the home, and good management meant that chores were done during daytime hours, again keeping Sunday as light as possible. Church going could be viewed as quite meditative in its way!
In many ways, the smooth running of the home then would be enough to make overstretched couples of today weep - no money, no mod-cons, but time rich.
By the way - sunshine has an anti-bacterial effect on laundry!
My (older) neighbours have been known to comment on my washing left out. The thing is, it can be gloriously sunny when I leave for work yet chucking it down and blowing a hoolie by the time I get back and I don't see the point in bringing in washing that is wetter than it was when I put it out. I have no excuse for leaving out the pegs though. I am clearly a slattern!
ReplyDelete