Two loads of wash drying on the balcony
After experiencing the joys of the twin tub in Adelaide, I want more hands-on laundering options. I can’t buy a new machine (no place to put it) but I did buy a drying rack, so that I can hang my clothes outside in the sun and wind.
Since this is a very common thing to do, even in our urban highrises, the weather forecast includes a drying forecast, too, in the form of a smiling t-shirt. Today’s drying forecast isn’t ideal, but tomorrow it will be worse so I wanted to get some of the washing done. Plus it is Monday, the traditional washing day.
Posted by kuri at August 11, 2008 10:37 AMYahoo Japan indicates the suitability for outdoor drying with varying numbers of t-shirts: http://weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/expo/clothdried/13/4410.html
They really have a wide variety of such forecasts- including heatstroke (brought to you by Pocari Sweat) and beer (brought to you by Asahi Super Dry). It looks like they haven’t found a sponsor for their ice cream forecast yet!
Why do you suppose Monday is traditionally laundry day? I typically do my laundry on the weekend- otherwise whatever would I wear on Monday?
Posted by: Jacob Levine on August 11, 2008 05:02 PMI understand that Monday is the traditional wash day because laundry was hard physical labor when you had to make a fire outside, haul water from the well, scrub and wring everything by hand, lug the wet wash to the line, etc. Since you had rested on Sunday, you had energy to work on Monday.
The rest of the weeks had chores, too. Tuesday was for ironing, Wednesday was mending/sewing, Thursday was market day, Friday was cleaning, Saturday for baking. And after a long household work week, you’d need the rest on Sunday.
Posted by: Kristen on August 12, 2008 08:09 AMThursday is still the shoping day for lots of elderly people here in Adelaide. i wondered why that was, now i know!
Posted by: j-ster on August 13, 2008 02:48 PMThanks for bringing back a memory. When I lived in Oita-ken, I delighted in the weather forecast with the T-shirt. I intuited its meaning, although I didn’t speak Japanese so I didn’t know exactly the translation. I always translated it as, “Tomorrow there will be a 70% chance of laundry.”
Yes, Monday was laundry day when women labored at home. Before washing machines, it was an all day affair…ironing being on Tuesday. There were baking and brewing days, too.
Posted by: mss @ nipponDAZE on August 17, 2008 03:00 AM