AIBU to like seeing washing out on the line?

kathyd

Kathyd

Never had a drier, never will. Washing dried outside when weather suitable. Snobs in Colyton.

Dragonfly46
Good for you. Who or what is now preventing you doing this?
Would you be causing a traffic obstruction, blocking access to some ones property, blocking the light entering some ones window, damaging plants etc . Are you in accommodation that has rules about this sort of thing?

It came to my attention that in my village in France I was known as 'the Englishwoman who hangs her knickers on the washing line'.
Once I hadn't been able to do the washing for a couple of weeks so had quite a lot.
My neighbour's ex-husband (French), was tending some land adjacent to my garden and told me that he stood openmouthed when he saw it. He subsequently sent me a poem he'd written about 15 pairs of knickers on the line.

Unless there's a written law or local ordinance that prohibits or regulates hanging your clothes (outside) to dry, no one can force you to do otherwise.

Having said that, you also need be prudent and practical. You are right about this, but now that the issue is out in the open (no pun intended , one of your adversaries could get an ordinance put in place sooner than later.

I would quietly hang my laundry in the back where it won't be seen from the street and hope that the issue goes away.

Margaret X Lucky you.
Many in the UK would love a restful Sunday but, this for some, a Sunday may be the only day they can catch up with the necessaries of life such as washing clothes etc and English weather permitting able to hang them outside to dry. I am sure the Brits would be up in arms with such a dictatorial attitude.

I choose not to have a tumble dryer and get a lot get a lot of satisfaction from pegging out a line of washing and the wonderful fresh grassy smell as I carefully fold it when dry (hate ironing)
Luckily, my rear garden has some trees and backs onto farmland with long views, so there is no-one to complain about washing being out on Sundays.

When we lived in Holland I used to hang the duvet out the bedroom window when it was dry every day to air it. I wish I had the courage to do that here!!

I love the smell of garden fresh laundry and remember the lines
Those that wash on Monday, have all the week to dry
Those that wash on Tuesday, are not so much awry
Those that wash on Wednesday, are not so much to blame
Those that wash on Thursday, wash for shame
Those that wash on Friday, wash in need
But those that wash on Saturday - Oh, they're sluts indeed!

I always felt that I should wash whenever the weather permitted. When I first came to the north east ( 40 years ago) I was scolded by a neighbour for line drying cloth nappies on a Sunday as they were visible from just about everywhere- top of the cathedral the railway viaduct etc. I bought a rotary dryer and I think it was invisible from those placesand hope it it didn't offfend delicate sensibilities.

Just remembered: Grannie (my father's mother) was deeply offended when my mother, while living with them just after my parents were married, hung her own and Daddy's underpants on the same clothes' line.

According to Grannie, Daddy and Grandpa's unmentionables should have been on one line, and Grannie's and Mummy's together on another!

My mother's back answer that being legally married she assumed her and my father's knickers were married too, did not improve the MIL - DIL relationship.

Here in Denmark most people have forgotten the "rule" about not hanging washing out on a Sunday or other religious holiday, but washing is hung in the back garden if you live in a house. Housing associations and blocks of flats do have rules about where and when you may do your washing or hang it out. Usually, if you share accommodation /live in flats you can't use a washing machine or dryer between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 or 8 a.m. Some places allow you to dry washing in a backyard, in others you may hang washing anywhere, but most commonly washing hung on your own balcony has to be hung below the level of the balustrade, so it is not visible to others.

Someone once told me, but I don't know if it is true, that in Switzerland you hang your washing in the front garden so everyone can see how nice and clean it is!

I used to love to see a line of freshly washed nappies. I still love the smell of washing that has dried in the fresh air - especially bedding. Driers use so much energy - they shouldn't be encouraged!

We also all have muderous hayfever, live adjoining a park and a pair of devoted gardeners, and I can do without importing any more bloody pollen into this house right now

angry sneezing

We often see small cottages on the island with washing lines (rotary or long) in the front gardens, presumably because they don't have back gardens. It doesn't look unsightly, it seems to add to their country charm.

Back in the 80s (in London) we had new neighbours, I think they were Turkish. One day they had a huge row in the garden and the husband stormed out, leaving his wife in tears in the garden. I asked if I could help her at all and she explained her husband was furious because she had hung her underwear on the line for all the neighbours to see. He said she had shamed and humiliated him and he was leaving her!! His underwear was also on the line. I offered to dry the offending garments in my drier, hers and his. Later in the evening the husband returned home and I gave their laundry back to them in separate bags. He was clearly embarrassed that I knew about their argument and I told him bluntly that he was an overbearing bully. I didn't tell him I had sprinkled itching powder in his boxers!

Years ago one of my DD's friends started giggling when she saw knickers on my washing line. I said to her "Doesn't your Mum wash yours, or maybe you don't wear any!" She shut up pretty quickly.

I suppose it depend if the farm next door has been muck spreading. But I too love the smell of fresh line dried sheets.

Thank you for explaining your reluctance to drying washing outside muffinthemoo. We are, of course, all different but the smell of line dried clothes is, to me, delightful!

Me too varian?? I am interested to hear the answer from muffinthemoo

I'm in Devon and saw this on Spotlight South West. I absolutely defend that lady's right to hang her washing out.
I hang my washing out and am lucky enough to have a back garden. I gather that she doesn't. There is nothing nicer than air dried washing. The community support was marvellous and a credit to the people of Colyton.

It’s crispy and also less convenient than doing a wash and dry overnight.

I don’t like the smell either.

I know of someone who refused to hang washing out in case the bees pooed on it.

I have to admit that we have a whirligig rotary type linen line and we’re overlooked by a couple of houses and I can’t bring myself to hang our ‘smalls’ on the outside lines. I make the excuse that it fits better - small stuff on the smaller lines, but in reality I don’t want the teenagers next door seeing my undies!

I am just curious, muffinthemoo to know why you despise line dried washing?

Husband refuses to have anything line dried and I also despise it, so not done by us. But I am damned if I see why a poison pen letter should dictate what this person does legally on her own property.

That’s not the actual line that caused the knicker-twisting, Umstongran, it’s one that a local has put up in support. Good for them, I say. What sort of person would expect a mother with three young boys to dry laundry indoors while the sun shines, to avoid offending their sensibilities? Perhaps she can’t afford or hasn’t room for a dryer. Surely hanging clothes indoors creates damp and mould, not an ideal environment for children?