AIRING A TWIST AND A TURN

We were talking to each other in the hospital waiting room about the run around the weather has given us with trying to get laundry out to to dry.

She agreed and said, "We have a mrrrmmn..."
Her son agreed and said, "Yes we have a "mrrrmmn..."

They did not have local accents.

I queried, "You have a...?"
"Yes" they both replied in unison.
I tried again; "I'm sorry what was it you said you had?"

They said, "A mrrrmmn."

I wondered if there was something wrong with my hearing. Trying again, I asked more specifically, "What was that last word, please."

She said, "M a i d e n, we've got a washing maiden."

Naturally, I wondered what the maiden did, and asked.

"Oh no....it's not a person, it's an airer, an airer on which to air the washing"

This was new use of vocabulary to my ears. My curiosity was stoked up; "Where are you from?"

They were from Lancashire, U.K. and there, where they were from, an airer, or a clothes horse, was a 'washing maiden'.

Looking directly at her, and hoping I smiled benignly, I observed "That's rather sexist."

Looking directly back at me and leaning forward in her wheelchair, with fire in her eyes, the woman said, "Yes it is, isn't it."

I reckon from now on, there'll be no more 'washing maidens' in that house. Notwithstanding, It was such an interesting socially based description, certainly one of its time, and probably a description from a specific village or small town within a large Northern county.

OLYMPIC FEAT.

A happy bleat, for a change, about drying washing and restricting the use of the tumble dryer. The weather has been playing massively manipulative games, getting to the stage where no sooner is a load of washing out on the line, it gets horribly wet by courtesy of Mother Nature, not to mention that I get soaked speedily rescuing the washing from the line. It is also noticeably colder, about 10 degrees Celsius with an icy nip. We'll be lucky to get 12 degrees at any high noon from now on. 

Running in and out to the washing line is becoming an unpleasant Olympic feat. There should be an athletic category for it in the Olympic Games. There are times when I feel I deserve to receive a gold medal for all the effort that goes into external laundry drying! 

This is what I would really like to have. I cannot have one because there's no suitable space for for it.


With a basket of washing ready and going nowhere fast, I chatted with hubbie about the ongoing difficulties with drying our laundry. He remembered that we stored under the house a square four section metal dryer frame on wheels, many years ago It was brought out into the daylight and on examining it, we found there was one broken rod, probably the reason for storing it, (rather than discarding the airer). A metallurgist was required....well, not really.   A quick soldering job on the broken rod has the airer erected and in use. Yay! Not that I am bothered, but, hubbie thinks that the airer needs a cosmetic touch to conceal the point of repair.

My dryer bears some likeness to the one below, but is not as tall. I don't have as many racks.