Thursday 15 October 2015

Hanging the washing out


We all used to do it. Now, maybe not so many of us do.

My grandmother had a stunning double decker washing line, with a pulley system that required strength and skill to operate. My job was to follow her down the garden and help position the two clothes props.

I am sure I have mentioned that hanging the washing out is special here, in past posts, but I don't think have properly recorded my wash day musings before .....until today. 

Years ago, when our family rented a house in  Provence, I realised I loved hanging out the washing.

The reasons being: 

we were on holiday, and there was never much washing, as it was always too hot to wear many clothes, so it was never a chore;

I never hung anything out " at home"...too wet, too cold, too busy working ridiculous hours during the day, so washing had to be done at night etc. etc;

and

the view from the washing line at the rented holiday house, was stunning.

So, when we bought our house in France, I was thrilled to find that the huge monstrosity of a 4 wired washing line, behind the house, offered stunning views over the village and to the distant Pyrenees. I have refused all offers to replace my old fashioned washing wires with one of those new fangled whirly things.

The novelty value of hanging washing out has long gone. However, I rarely hang it out without thinking of my grandmother's highly engineered set up, and I always marvel at the beautiful view. 

In the summer, when it is really hot, it is possible to hang out sheets, and take them off the line as soon as you have finished hanging them. Sometimes it is too hot to hang things out and I might seek a volunteer to do it, or wait until it is cooler.

Hanging the washing out in the autumn is just lovely. I have just put a couple of machine loads on the lines, and decided the time was right to blog about it !



As I leave the house by the back door, I look up to the washing line, and the forest behind the house.




I walk up a set of steps and turn to my right and admire the view. 




The virginia creeper is turning red against the ivy covered wall below me.

I step on a carpet of wild thyme, that  sends wafts of beautiful herby scent upwards.




The story book  pine forest is to my right as I peg out the clothes, the terrace where we sit and watch the grandchildren play boules is in front of me.




The pegs are carefully stored in a now, fading peg bag, made for me by Sharon who I used to work with at the hospital in Halifax. So I always give her a thought too, and then I wander back into the house......job done, and with such pleasure.


15 comments:

  1. I absolutely understand your pleasure - although I am and have been a fan of hanging washing out for many years, including those spent in Huddersfield. I LOVE my double washing line, although it's just a bit low and I don't have a prop...I'd really like one - I remember my mum's.
    In the summer, I can have a load of washing and the first item can be dry by the time I've pegged out the last one. As you might suspect, I don't have a peg bag, I leave mine on the line and then just replace them as they finally give up the ghost and snap as a result of being left there in the sun!
    I don't have your glorious views but I can see down the valley and am just high enough above the road to give a wave to passing neighbours. And the lovely smell of clean washing is always worth the effort of hanging it out in my opinion. Domestic goddess I am definitely not, but doing the laundry is actually a chore I enjoy. Better than dusting. Or putting things away. Or washing up. Or making beds. Or .....

    Axxx

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    1. No, I dont see my love of hanging out washing as anything to do with Domestic Goddessness. I too would rather do almost anything than house work. I didn't used to use a peg bag, but when my lovely friend Sharon made me one, I knew I would always use it. Thinking back to my grandmother's double decker version, I really do not know how she managed to lift the top line high enough to get those heavy cotton sheets billowing away...but she did. Jxxx

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  2. I love to see the washing billowing on the line, and enjoy that fresh smell from the sheets and towels when I bring them back inside.
    You have such a glorious spot to hang your washing in, I am sure that it could not be beaten.

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    1. It is always a joy to hang the washing out here in France. 'Im just glad all I have to do is take it out of the machine.... the days of having to hand wash everyhting would not have suited me at all.

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  3. I think we are washing line buddies. Mine is not so far from the house but has the same 4 lines, T section posts and forest view. I keep my pegs in a bucket though, so you've spurred me on to make myself a peg bag.

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    1. My peg bag is very special to me, made by a really dear friend. I honestly do think about her whenever I take pegs out or put them back.

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  4. I think there is nothing nicer than hanging out the washing and then watch it flapping in the breeze...or maybe the smell of line dried sheets when you first put them on the bed :-) I don't have the lovely view that you have, but Eduardo the cat always accompanies to the clothes line to keep me company.

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    1. I love the idea of Eduardo following you down the garden. x

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  5. Leo found a pulley which sounds like that of your grandmother in the first house he bought....we were still using it in France....but it disappeared when the house was in the charge of our dishonest caretaker.
    I must ask a friend with sharp eyes to make a tour of the expat washing lines some day...
    I love putting washing out to dry...and the scent of line dried sheets is just gorgeous.
    I can't say that I have as much enthusiasm for the ironing...
    What lovely views you have, too....

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    1. You said it, ironing is the pits. The older I get, the more things I determine do not need ironing, and I do not think it is connected to developing fabric technology.

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  6. I hated hanging out washing in the UKbut love it here. I have three long lines that are fixed on metal protruding out of the balcony railing and I have a ritual for what goes where. It's not culturally acceptable for ones smalls to be seen here so these go on the line closest to the balcony and then are hidden by the rest of the washing. I also have a perfect view of fields and mountains so it's a pleasure rather than a chore. I'm with Helen on the ironing though.

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    1. I don't think any of us want the Domestic Goddess title do we ! I agree, ironing is just awful.

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  7. I feel as though I'm with you, Janice. I understand your pleasure at a line of clean washing in such stunning surroundings.
    In the UK I have a washing line, but in France one of those whirligig contraptions. Both have views of the garden and not much beyond. In the UK in our utility room there is a pulley system which has done marvellous service for thirty years, and I marvel by how much money it gas saved on electricity for a tumble dryer (and the tumble dryer!). If you were to visit you would probably feel that my towels weren't up to the 'lovely and fluffy' standard of a tumble dried one! I hate to see washing around the house, which is probably a throwback from childhood. We put away dried washing un-ironed, and iron before we wear it. Tim is i/c ironing as he is so much better at it than me;0)!!
    When we had our apartment in the Haute Savoie we weren't allowed to have washing on the balcony that was visible from outside.
    Great post... Xx

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    1. You have reminded me that we had a pulley thingy above the rayburn in our kitchen when we lived in Mankinholes, and it was brilliant for drying things. I also agree with you about washing hanging around the house. I hate it. My daughter who lives in a lovely flat in Liverpool,knows to move the clothes horse, when I am visiting. I feel for her, as she has no where to hang things to dry, and although I bought her a tumble dryer, she is very aware that it costs her a fortune to run, so is saved for towels and sheets.

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  8. You have put into words my thoughts on hanging out the washing.
    I discovered the joys of it on a camping holiday in Italy. Washing our t-shirts by hand then hanging them out and finding them bone dry and ironed by the breeze half an hour later - bliss. I always hang washing out now, whenever the weather is right, especially in France where the washing line has a view across the valley.
    I sometimes think of how hard it was for my mother, up and down the garden path, fetching it in when it started to rain, or coming home from work to find it all sodden, having to spin it all again and drape it over wooden clothes horses until it eventually dried. Stuffing it in the tumble drier might not be as pleasing as hanging it out but it's an awful lot easier than that.

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