Laundry—how well hung is your line?

Clothes draped on the base of a billboard

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you’ll know I hate washing clothes by hand. Oh, I do it, but it’s my least liked household chore. And you might remember that I am also not very good at it.

But you can’t get away from doing it on an overland trip. It dogs me day after day. We wear an outfit for a few days—two is the minimum and five is the max and depends on how far away the next shower is—then change clothes and wash what we’ve been wearing. Luckily, Poor John is a good sport and does his share of laundry duty. We’re both reasonably good at stomping on clothes soaking in a bucket. However, he’s much better at scrubbing and I’m much better at wringing out.

A busy rooftop

Funnily enough, I don’t at all mind hanging out laundry, bringing it in or folding it. In fact, I take some pride in producing a reasonably well-hung line even on overland trips.

Which reminds me of a piece contributed to the Sydney Morning Herald by a reader a couple of years ago. I’ll share it here, and extend my thanks and apologies to the newspaper and Glenda Ellis of Brisbane (the author). I hope they don’t mind.

Laundry and a thatched roof too

by Glenda Ellis

‘In the Laundry and Home Management classes at my school in the 1950s, I learnt to admire a well-hung clothesline. Not only did we sort the washing to be laundered, we sorted the washing to be dried, and it still irks me to see haphazard clothing flapping in the breeze. My daughter cannot understand my disappointment at finding a pyjama top far from its other half, let alone pillowcases separated from their pairs and far from one another.

‘Mrs. Frazer (or was it Fraser?) must have had a subliminal impact on me, because if asked to name a teacher who influenced my later life she would not have sprung to mind; at least not immediately. Lately, however, as I have hung washing on the line with new-fangled super-strong plastic pegs, I find myself remembering her classes.

‘She taught Domestic Science at my school during the 50s, and there would not have been a girl who did not regard her as awesome, to borrow a 2012 description. Her cooking classes were nothing like those on the television today. We girls were there to be instructed in the essentials of cooking using The Commonsense Cookery Book, and we were also there to learn Laundry and Home Management. It is the laundry lessons that remain etched in my memory.

Hotel bedding

Hotels can hang

‘Until I attended Mrs Frazer’s classes, I was unaware there was a right and wrong way to hang items on a clothesline. I watched my mother for many years as she struggled with the sheets, pillowcases and clothes, pegging things on the line then hoisting it up with the prop to catch the breeze. Her clotheslines were orderly and a pleasure to behold.

‘Mrs Frazer insisted that we peg clothes and other items with the smallest amount of overlap. On the rare occasions my husband puts the washing out, I am mortified to find the towels hung over the line at the top.

Lots of laundry spread over several lines

‘Doesn’t he know this increases the necessary drying time? His insistence that they dry just the same cuts no ice whatsoever.

‘My daughter has never learnt to arrange a line of clothes satisfactorily, despite my urging. It is not something one discusses over the dinner table, I suppose, and I don’t think it would be a point of debate at parent–teacher evenings nowadays either.

‘I still think of Mrs Frazer. I wonder how she would have managed the fitted sheets of today, and what she would say if she knew I leave my pegs on the clothesline? But I’m sure she would nod her head at my well-hung line.’

A West Bengali woman creating her own well-hung line

Unlike the author of the above, young people in India probably aren’t taught Domestic Science in school. Some classes might touch on cooking, but I bet there are no lessons on beating your clothes against a rock to get them clean. Not surprisingly, clothespegs (clothespins) are also very difficult to find.

This means clotheslines in India are rarely well-hung. Instead they are almost always haphazard, interesting and colourful. I shared some pics when we were here in 2013, and here’s another batch.

So tell me—how well hung is your line?

Who needs an actual clothesline?

Simple lines

Scenic clothesline