Reverse Culture Shock

I am in awe of our washing machine and dryer. They are both massive, yet efficient.  In my seven and a half years in London, I never owned a dryer.  Our washing machine was tiny, so we ended up doing laundry all the time.

In our last flat in London, we had a combination washer/dryer. It was supposed to morph into a dryer once the washing cycle finished. Instead of drying clothes, though, it just made them incredibly hot.

When you tried to take the clothes out, forgetting how hot they were, you would drop them as you cursed the machine, then massage your burned hand, and watch as steam rose from the clothes that were then balled up on the kitchen floor.  

The washing and drying cycles took more than three hours. I can’t say precisely how long they took, because we never actually made it to the end. After three and a half hours, we finally aborted the cycle, and stuck to the “quick wash” function in subsequent washes (still an hour and a half long).

To dry clothes, we hung them on a rack in the bathroom.  Sheets we draped over doors. One weekend, when both kids had the flu, we had to do about ten loads of laundry to clean  the ensuing rivers of vomit.

There were pants hanging over doorknobs, socks on drawer handles, and towels on the floor.  The whole place smelled of damp and mold.  

So the most awesome part of our new dryer is that we actually have one.