Laundry

I thought I would put off doing the laundry by writing about it. I don't like doing laundry in London. Matthew and I have a washing machine in our flat, but there is no tumble dryer. What that means is that you have to hang all the laundry up on a drying rack or on hangers. The worst is the socks! I can't stand hanging hanging socks up to dry. It seems like there is an endless stream of laundry and I guess it seems that way because there is!

Doing laundry also takes a long time for a cycle to wash, over an hour. Then you have to get it out and up to dry pretty soon or else it starts to stink and then you have to wash it again. Matthew assures me that most family homes have dryers, but I really miss having one. I miss doing laundry on a Sunday afternoon. Sitting on the couch folding hot laundry while watching the Simpsons. I miss getting burned by the buttons on my jeans, how funny is that. I even miss finding a dryer sheet stuck in the leg of my pants.

American laundry also smells so amazing. For whatever reason I can't seem to get the clothes clean enough or fresh smelling enough. Maybe they don't need to smell that fresh, but I am used to it. I have taken the laundry to the Laundrette so I can use the dryer, although the clothes never seem to get absolutely dry. They are always a bit damp. Call me an energy hog if you must, but I like being able to get all the laundry done in an afternoon. Even if it's five loads. I always have clothes in the hamper here. I can't escape it! The sad part is that Matthew and I don't even have that many clothes.

The photo of the Japanese guy drying a sock with a hair dryer is my old flatmate. While I was going to school here or going to uni ( 1. Shortening of the word "University" (=College). "I'm going to classes at uni this afternoon" ) this was a popular way of drying your socks. We had a washing/dryer machine, but the dryer was absolutely useless. It didn't have a vent so all it did was heat up the wet clothes.

Those were the days. We gave it a good go and tried to use it. We'd have laundry drying for hours and it would never get dry. I can say that as time has gone on I have at least gotten used to it, but I still prefer American style laundry over English style any day! Well I guess I can't put it off any longer, it's time to do the laundry. Maybe I will just make a coffee first....

Tide image