Did you ever wonder why most people pronounce the word herb as 'erb, as the French do, but the British insist on saying the h? Turns out it's because the working class Londoners, or Cockneys, tend to drop the h's from the beginnings of words, and the Hoity Toitys couldn't bear to have even one single word in their vocabulary that connected them with the lower classes. What has this got to do with hanging one's laundry on a clothesline? Funny you should ask!
Shortly after posting my little ditty about my new "solar dryers" yesterday, I hiked down the driveway to retrieve my Sunday newspaper. What did I find on page three of the Austin American Statesman? An article entitled "It's Status-Minded vs. Energy-Conscious in Clothesline Clash." Clotheslines? An odd little topic, don't you think, to have been picked up from the NYT and spread nationwide? What has made clotheslines newsworthy? Well, it seems that even living in a trailer park doesn't guarantee you the right to reduce your carbon footprint by using one these days. Private communities across the country have been fairly unanimous in their desire to outlaw anything that smacks of "poverty", for fear it might lower property values.
More and more, though, these rules are coming under fire, and lawmakers in several states have introduced legislation to override them. Considering our environmental crisis, and the fact that dryers account for at least 6% of a home's energy consumption, I can only hope that more states will follow suit. I'm not sure what the rules are here in my hood, and don't wish to call attention to myself by asking. So, instead of mounting the retractible "wind energy drying devices" between the porch posts in front, directly off my kitchen, perhaps I should mount them in back, between the posts on our open-air garage - and pray that the swallows won't poop on everything!
P.S. Many thanks to hunkerdownusa.wordpress.com for the above image.
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4 comments:
I am so missing hanging my laundry to dry... and my clothes look more worn using the dryer all the time.
Better add that to your house-hunting checklist - neighborhood must allow clotheslines!
If the neighbors are a little freaked out by a clothesline (a permanent addition to the yard) perhaps they could be gently conditioned to the idea by seeing a nice laundry drying rack like this one we use being set up on the patio or deck during the warm months?
Then after awhile of getting used to the concept they would be OK with the clothesline and neighborhood peace would be maintained...
I had decided to get one of those anyway, maybe put it on the little enclosed porch just off the garage utility room. I could hang all my small "unmentionables" on it, then just put sheets and stuff on the lines.
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