Out to dry

One of the very first things I did on our recent holiday, once we were unpacked and fed, the child bathed and put to bed, was to peruse the shelves of holiday reading. There were a few gems and I flicked through each picture book, just in case there were any laundry pictures. And lo, there were. Of course, there always is. And what a charmer. Reminds me somewhat of this picture. (I'm thinking I could almost start a category for people hanging from the line.)

It's from A Necklace of Raindrops by Joan Aiken, illustrated by Jan Pienkowski, Puffin Books 1968. I've forgotten the name of the story but the illustration is from the part where a kindly witch finds Emma hanging on the washing line in her dress. The witch has a good old laugh and Emma said, "My dress is too small, so Aunt Lou washes it on me, in case I can't put it on again when I have taken it off. I'm almost dry now, so I can come down if you will help me."

The witch does help and gives Emma a gift of three dresses. One of which is made into a mat for a cat and turns into a magic mat when the cat is sleeping on it. So Emma and her Aunt Lou have all sorts of riches in the end. There are eight stories and I read them all, so I think that's how it went. It would have helped my memory if I'd written something down or stolen the book, but that would be wrong wouldn't it? Much better to leave it there for someone else to discover.

Holiday washing

I've heard it said that travelling with young children is the same shit, different scenery. And I guess to some extent that's true. Meals have to be made, the pokey probing fingers have to be removed from the tape deck, baths and naps have to be had, bottoms have to be changed and the washing has to be done. Especially when you ignore the burbling sounds emanting from the bedroom at nap time because you have your head in a novel. An unwise move. The child had removed her nappy, thrown it on the floor and painted the contents on the portacot. Just charming. 

Just as well that the house you're staying in has a well stocked cleaning cupboard with proper disinfectant and a real laundry. And two washing lines. The charming line between the ti-trees I used as the back up line and for bathers and towels drying from the beach. The less charming, but utterly practical foldout line near the laundry door was well used every couple of days for normal washing and after the nappy incident. But I have to say that the scenery made all the difference.

Really. It did. 

The only thing I don't get is how after doing the washing regularly while we were away, I still had three gianormous loads on returning home. And that was without the nappies. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed using disoposables while we were away. No scraping. Way less folding. And less washing overall (because they don't leak so readily). I have to say, there's part of me that's really tempted.