In Australia it’s uncommon to use a dryer to dry your clothes. This makes perfect sense when sun is your biggest export and you’re sometimes located under a hole in the ozone layer (I don’t know if that could in any way contribute to drying more quickly, but I like the mental imagery that UV irradiating my clothing brings to mind, the tiny water molecules comically agitating into gas going noo nooooo don’t do it!).

I kind of like the practice. Although it leaves lint everywhere, takes more time, and my ribbed tank tops don’t get tossed and ruffled back down to quite as form fitting a size, taking loads of wet laundry, quietly hanging them, piece by piece, suspending socks and underwear on an amusing clothes-pin octopus creature, is a rather meditative, peaceful activity.

yes I helped hang clothes before taking all these pictures. Yes that is a strange red octopus creature with socks hanging from it. This is our backyard, which we share with our landlords (the best ever). The shed in the background is where the laundry machine and an old outhouse toilet are located (indoor plumbing outdoors?). Our flat is the brick you see to the right of the trash/recycling/yard waste bins.

It gets you outside if you are otherwise engaged in some boring interior activity. You experience your clothing, exactly how big they are, how many pieces there are, and how long they take to dry. You get to watch them blow in the wind, and think about where to strategically place them so that there are no bird- and thus bird-pooping-trees overhead.

bloooooowing in the wind… To Ben’s left is a lovely little lemon tree that looks to have about 50 tiny lemons developing. To his right is our flat, the patio, and our landlords’ house. Our flat is composed of the first brick bit (bathroom) and then the beige painted siding area (kitchen). At the base of the brick (bathroom) is a bit of scrub that has since turned into my garden.

And of course it saves energy.

But the best part, and you will probably only appreciate this if you are both a girl and forgetful, but the best part is that you can run your lip-balm sunscreen through the wash with no resultant giant grease stains! Huzzah!

recently laundered