My tale of dishwasher woe the other day led me to think a bit about doing the washing up. I agree with Barbara M's comment about the shared stories and confidences which can develop over a basin of dishes as one person washes and another dries, as Mr. C. and I had said the very same thing as we stood companionably at the sink doing that chore. And my thanks to Barbara D for her comment re. the ukwhitegoods website (see here).
Even with a machine to do the bulk of the work there is always handwashing to be done, and whether you're doing a little or a lot, method comes into it. My mother taught me to use a plastic basin in the sink, and most importantly, to rinse as you go - when something has been washed it is immediately run under very hot water to rinse it of suds before being put in the drying rack. Crucially, the first time Mr. C. came to my house for dinner he helped with the dishes and revealed he is a natural rinser - I decided he was worth keeping.
Kay Smallshaw, writing in 1949, says in How to Run Your Home Without Help "...with the coming of the liquid soap substitute one can luxuriate in nice sudsy water. Providing the latter is hot, and you are armed with a good mop, dish-cloth, bottle brush, saucepan brush, and fine steel wool for obstinate cases, you can sail right ahead." Having given precise dishwashing instructions she then goes on to say: "Bedmaking, breakfast dishes and tidying the kitchen; dusting and sweeping the sitting-rooms, bedrooms, stairs, passage and porch; riddling the boiler and cleaning out the fire; putting to rights the lavatory and bathroom - there in greater or less detail, is the inescapable morning routine. It may take anything from an hour in a small flat, to two or more in a house." N.B. the cleaning proper comes later. Have you done yours yet?
Mercy!
I should get a copy of that Persephone, just to enjoy how different my routine is. Morning routine... wash, dress, have breakfast, make lunch... don't seem to have scheduled in time to polish door handles or vacuum my lampshades...
Posted by: Simon Thomas | 11 April 2008 at 02:15 PM
Oh, what a tonic you are!!! I laughed and laughed! I have been ill but am now getting better. One sure thing I am finding out: laughter is the best medicine!
P.S. I am prepared for the April 12th book group get-together.... Irish soda bread? You are speaking to an expert (whose receipe is slightly different).
Thanks again for all your blogsite. You really made my day!
Posted by: Barbara MacLeod | 11 April 2008 at 02:22 PM
I saw this book but thought it wouldn't be one that I would be interested in reading, but now I think I've changed my mind. fascinating in it's own way.
Posted by: Danielle | 11 April 2008 at 04:30 PM
I now have a cleaner.......
Posted by: Elaine | 11 April 2008 at 04:40 PM
My husband is descaling the kitchen taps as I type. He enjoys housework, so I let him do the major share(so kind of me).
Posted by: rosie | 11 April 2008 at 05:56 PM
I will confess that when I handwash dishes, I much prefer to do them all by myself. People invariable like to come along and throw stuff into the dishwater, and I can only wash dishes by hand if I do them in a very particular order, geared to minimize yucky things floating around touching me in the water. :0)
I find my days go sooo much better when I follow a basic morning routine. If I miss it, I spend all day feeling behind, you know?
Posted by: Charity | 11 April 2008 at 06:46 PM
Kay Smallshaw's book is great, as are so many other Persephone books and books on housekeeping (I collect both Persephone books and books on housekeeping, by the way, so I'm a tad biased!)
Our 3rd dishwasher died and went to the great white goods heaven about a year ago. Since when we've just bothered to replace it. We had our first dishwasher way back in 1976 and I relied on them heavily until last year. And now we've rediscovered the joys of hand washing the dishes. It takes no time at all when you get stuck in, and you know that the glasses won't have smears and the Royal Worcester won't get chipped (we had a spate of the dishwasher nibbling pieces out of the ceramics!) And, of course, we always had to re-clean the scrambled egg and rice pudding pan/dish! We may buy another dishwasher; I dare say they've improved since even our last purchase about 12 years ago, and it is 'greener' to use a dishwasher, so I understand, as it uses less water than handwashing.
Posted by: Margaret Powling | 11 April 2008 at 07:11 PM
What you are supposed to do, I am told by the book I've just been reading, is do the dishes with your mother / son and sing to each other ... not something that I happened in my house, I admit, but for the literary justification, look out on my blog undor "wobegone" in a few days time!!
Posted by: Lindsay | 12 April 2008 at 07:39 PM