I have a newfound respect for laundresses

[swan_tower]

Our washing machine has been on the fritz for a while, and tonight it gave up the ghost — because of course we forgot to turn in a maintenance request before leaving for World Fantasy.

And, of course, it gave up the ghost when it was very full of water and clothes.

So we just spent a chunk of time taking items out, wringing them, and hanging them off every available bar and hook in every single bathroom. This? Turns out to be hard work. Like, seriously hard. I am reminded of the descriptions I’ve seen in history books and historical fiction, where they talk about the laundresses being beefy-armed women. Dude, they would have to be. This was one pretty small load, and all I had to do was wring it, not even shove it around a tub with a stick or anything. It makes you understand why we invented devices like the mangle.

Now I’m going to flop around like a very tired thing. (And I still have to do my PT. Argh.)

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

time taking items out, wringing them,

small items work best for that sort of thing...

[shark-hat.livejournal.com]

My mum's did that last Christmas! We put the jeans in the bath and trod the water out of them before wringing them. My wrist tendons ached for days, even so. It gives you a very physical appreciation for the Washday Blues.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Urgh, yes, fun times for all, that.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember Daniel and I having a conversation once about how the washing machine was probably the most awesome consequence of electrification in terms of improving women's lives. So many hours of hard physical labor that you don't have to do anymore!

Although I look at all the doodads I have lying around for training my grip strength, and I do think that maybe wringing out some laundry would be just as effective.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Obligatory TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_and_the_magic_washing_machine.html

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we need gyms and such because we've made our lives amazingly non-strenuous. :-P

[pameladean]

Urgh, yes! When our washer died a few years ago, it had a king-sized comforter in it. Oh my God. (Expert opinion offered was that the comforter did not kill the washer, which was ancient and deserved to be retired honorably.)

P.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Oh god. I don't even want to think about trying to wring something like that over the washer, or the amount of water it would slop around elsewhere when you tried to move it.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised--my mom used to do laundry by hand, including the Korean practice of beating out the wrinkles on the special boards they have for this purpose. (It works, but I'm told it wears out clothes really fast.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I had to wash my clothes by hand once, in Costa Rica.

By which I mean, I made an extremely pathetic attempt to wash my clothes by hand, and about thirty seconds into my failure one of the Costa Rican women at the field station quietly took them away from me and worked magic. :-P