Laundry, and how it is done...
On a bird conversation, my birder friend Edge from St Louissaid:
Still a Luddite at heart (but not advocating returning to wringer washing machines).
To this, Kathleen Anderson, from Columbia, replied
Even wringer washing machines were better than a stream and a rock!
My response:
With regard to "a stream and a rock"....back in the days when we Indians were ruled by the British, a colonel from that country, having watched the women (of course, never the men!) squatting to wash their clothes on the rocks, had some raised stone platforms installed, so that the women need not squat.
Not hearing effusive praise for this effort, he gently prodded the womenfolk some time later. Shyly covering their faces with their saree ends, they finally picked up the courage to reply....."Oh, sir, it's wonderful of you to do this for us. Only....we find it difficult to climb up on the stone slabs and squat."
In my country, even today, we have washing machines (mostly in the cities and the bigger towns) but very few dryers. We (yes, even in the biggest cities) use Solar Drying...that is, clotheslines in the sun! We also often have power cuts which may last several hours...on any day...so we learn to do without power too. We often have Uninterrupted Power Systems in our apartments, but these will not run the 15-amp "power" circuits, so our washing machines, microwave ovens, toaster ovens, refrigerators....are OFF, until power is restored by our (apathetic and indifferent) Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM).
Thank you for putting me in mind of all this with your comment. I still have all my bird lists on Excel, and perhaps, if I had started birding even earlier, I might have used an abacus..or stones...to count the birds!
Still a Luddite at heart (but not advocating returning to wringer washing machines).
To this, Kathleen Anderson, from Columbia, replied
Even wringer washing machines were better than a stream and a rock!
My response:
With regard to "a stream and a rock"....back in the days when we Indians were ruled by the British, a colonel from that country, having watched the women (of course, never the men!) squatting to wash their clothes on the rocks, had some raised stone platforms installed, so that the women need not squat.
Not hearing effusive praise for this effort, he gently prodded the womenfolk some time later. Shyly covering their faces with their saree ends, they finally picked up the courage to reply....."Oh, sir, it's wonderful of you to do this for us. Only....we find it difficult to climb up on the stone slabs and squat."
In my country, even today, we have washing machines (mostly in the cities and the bigger towns) but very few dryers. We (yes, even in the biggest cities) use Solar Drying...that is, clotheslines in the sun! We also often have power cuts which may last several hours...on any day...so we learn to do without power too. We often have Uninterrupted Power Systems in our apartments, but these will not run the 15-amp "power" circuits, so our washing machines, microwave ovens, toaster ovens, refrigerators....are OFF, until power is restored by our (apathetic and indifferent) Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM).
Thank you for putting me in mind of all this with your comment. I still have all my bird lists on Excel, and perhaps, if I had started birding even earlier, I might have used an abacus..or stones...to count the birds!