We have had a lovely spell of warm weather. This day, ‘washing’ day was sunny and windy. Perfect drying weather. I love being out in the garden once again and there is nothing to beat the fresh smell of sheets dried on the ‘washing’ line. ‘Washing’ as opposed to ‘Laundry’ is how we described the weekly wash of clothes at home in Scotland. When I was very young the weekly wash was done in the wash house. An outhouse with a big stone boiler which had room underneath the boiler for a fire to be lit to heat up the water for the washing. The whites were boiled then the water was used in sinks and cooled for the rest of the washing. We had a ‘mangle’, two rollers turned with a handle to squeeze out the water from the clothes. When the weather was fair, the washing was hung out to dry and if it was raining, there were ‘pulleys’ which were clothes rails which were let down from the ceiling to load the wet washing and pulled up again to the ceiling for the clothes to dry.
Thank goodness for washing machines and tumble dryers! It took a whole day to wash the clothes and was a cold job in the winter time.
Trudie Callan 
May 9, 2016 at 3:07 pm
Another smile from me today. We had a washer with a separate tub for rinsing the clothes before they were put through a wringer to extract the water before hanging on the clothes line. Seldom do I see clothes hanging from a clothes line today. I can still smell the scent from sheets which have been placed outside to dry.
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June 3, 2016 at 2:59 pm
We all have tumbler dryers today!
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May 9, 2016 at 3:22 pm
Similar to MaryNell’s comments and yours, growing up I remember my mother washing clothes the same. When I was married and had our first home I could hardly wait to have a clothes line to hang our the weekly wash. Oh how I miss slipping into bed at night smelling the freshly washed sheets. There is no other smell in the world more comforting than that! Sadly where we live now, clothes lines ar forbidden.
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June 3, 2016 at 2:58 pm
Glad it brought back good memories.
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May 10, 2016 at 10:15 am
Great story and great memories. As a child we too had the roller/wringer thing in the basement and then we would trudge outside to hang clothes on the line winter or summer. I still remember my brothers jeans stiff as a board in the winter.
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May 11, 2016 at 3:06 pm
I remember freezing as we hung clothes out during the winter. Sometimes they came in crispy not dry.
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May 11, 2016 at 3:14 pm
Indeed. I remember that too.
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May 12, 2016 at 2:09 pm
great story! … and bringing back memories for all of us. My friend in Essex always puts her laundry out – when we were last over in England she got my son, her Godson, to do it … a new experience for him hanging up the washing!
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May 14, 2016 at 2:23 pm
Good training for him! I am not sure if our sons would know how to hang out washing.
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May 16, 2016 at 2:04 am
Yes, I recall those “wash” days when clothes were hung to dry outside. There still is nothing like the smell and feel of sheets dried in the summer sun — Ah-h-h-h-h! Your picture brought back many memories —
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