Warm boot recommendations please

[Lesley]

....or eaten

 

I could just do what my great-grandparents would have done - hang it all on hawthorn bushes

[bunee1]

Is'nt that what they do in Brambly hedge

[Mrs Frugal]

Oh Brambly Hedge - love it! Wish I was a mouse !

[bunee1]

Me too Wilfred the naughty one was always my favorite ....i used to like the way they dangled their tails in the stream in the summer to cool down

[Mrs Frugal]

I admit that at 41, I still read my Brambly Hedge books. They are just delightful and I'm sure they are what inspired me with a lot of the things I do now (not including dangling my tail though ). Lovely books!

[bunee1]

Good on you....we love them in our house too......hence the guinea pig named (primrose).

 

They are fantastic books the illistration always inspired me as a child and still now. You can shut your eyes and imagine you're there well i do !

[Mrs Frugal]

Oh so do I and all my steamed puddings are tied up in cloths like Mrs Crustybread used to make . It would be such a nice place to live - all that lovely hedgerow food and such nice companions - bliss!

[Egluntyne]

Was't Harold Shipmans wife called Primrose?

 

Back to tumble driers.

 

A neighbour of mine has been using hers several times a day during the heatwave.

 

You can smell the lashings of fabric conditioner as it wafts out of the wall vent and accross the gardens.

 

She doesn't have a washing line as it "spoils the look of the garden"

 

Her washing machine is on constantly too, and there is only her and her husband living there.

 

Have just been out to let the hens out. 6.20am, and I can hear both machines going, and can smell the lenor from a couple of gardens away.

 

[Eyren]

I have a washer-dryer, as there isn't space in my house for a machine that I only use once in a blue moon - I would rather have crispy radiator-dried towels than endure the guilt of listening to a tumbledryer

 

Nowadays I just have to be extra-careful when hanging my washing out that I don't trail it on the lawn - too much chicken poo

[Charlottechicken]

I must confess to being the owner of a tumble dryer as well. I use mine quite a lot, and I often wash in the evenings due to being at work during the day, so it is nice to have the sheets and towels dry before I go to bed rather than risking it raining if they are on the line overnight. When I bought my first dryer I made a decision to find a way to offset the electric usage and bought energy saving light bulbs, hence my electric bill is a steady £15 per month (it used to be £12 before the price of fuel went up) . This was a nice surprise as I was told tumble dryers were expensive to run . I also have a condensor dryer now and use the water to flush the toilet or water plants etc. I also found that if I tried to dry washing in the house I was using the heating more to help it dry, so for me the dryer is more efficient. The old tumble dryer drum was turned into a composter for my mother

 

I think the point here is that we are all making an effort in some way to be greener rather than blindly consuming energy like Kate's neighbour (and many people we all know, no doubt!), and if we do use these labour saving devices, then we are aware of the energy they consume and are willing to find ways to make energy savings elsewhere in our lives.

 

C