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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 29, 2020 19:18:23 GMT
Frozen laundry was so weird. And I'm sure you all know about rushing outside to take down everything when a big storm is starting.
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Post by mich64 on Nov 29, 2020 21:42:00 GMT
My mom hung used to hang all of the laundry on the line, except for the months of January and February. She always said the laundry smelt and felt so much better. She used to put the frozen towels and sheets in the dryer and then the sheets went straight onto the beds. I remember how cold my hands would be after taking those towels of the line.
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Post by Biddy on Dec 1, 2020 3:12:31 GMT
I have been told of some rule in my subdivision disallowing laundry lines. LOL no one has ever challenged me to date. I say just bring it on!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Dec 1, 2020 8:58:28 GMT
I always prefer drying the washing outside. Here the main problem at this time of year is the day length and the moisture in the atmosphere. Some days we can get stuff almost dry but we usually have to finish everything off indoors. Today its lovely atm but by the time the washing machine has completed its cycle it will be drizzling outside no doubt...
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Post by bjd on Dec 1, 2020 9:17:42 GMT
I also dry outside all year round. We had a dryer for a couple of years when we lived in an apartment and had 3 small children in eastern France where it was colder in winter and rained more. But we got rid of it when we bought a house with a garden in the south of the country.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 1, 2020 9:25:01 GMT
It is totally forbidden to hang laundry out one's window or on a balcony in Paris. You will see it occasionally in the poor parts of town where even one euro for a laundromat dryer is sometimes too much.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 1, 2020 15:51:18 GMT
That's remarkable give the undoubted environmental upsides of hang-drying laundry vs. using a dryer. I guess maintaining a neat appearance trumps environmental responsibility in Paris. Unsurprisingly.
In the US I only use a dryer, clothes would often never dry here on the line; the house in Italy doesn't have a dryer, there are clotheslines out in the tettaio/carport and I've found that clothes will dry there on all but the wettest and rainiest days. If I get impatient and want something on the line, I can bring it indoors and hang it on a rack there to finish drying faster.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 1, 2020 16:01:16 GMT
Just been at the dentist having a root removed (great fun) and it made me think of dentistry when I was a child. I was terrified of the dentist and remember crying so much that the appointment was cancelled. They would put you out by using a chloroform pad on your face which petrified me. No electric drill either, all foot operated.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 1, 2020 20:19:06 GMT
Mick, that is still my attitude toward the dentist.
Fumobici, I've had washing on the line mildew in Louisiana, so know what you mean about a dryer being a handy item. Still, no matter where I've lived, I've hung up the laundry if at all possible.
I haven't had a dryer since moving to Mexico. When I was working, it was impractical to leave it out on the line all day, so I had one of those retractable clothes lines in the house. It worked, but unless you happen to have a spare ballroom in your home, it's kind of a hassle.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 1, 2020 21:30:56 GMT
My lady dentist is lovely but it’s still an unpleasant experience.
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Post by mossie on Dec 2, 2020 8:04:29 GMT
When I left school I had to have a routine dental inspection, here it was decided that two molars had to be removed. There were two lady dentists, one had the pliers and the other held my head while they had a wrestling match, nearly pulling my head off. there was much blood and I remember my mother was not pleased that my pillow was soaked with blood when she came to wake us next morning.
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Post by bjd on Dec 2, 2020 10:16:32 GMT
I went to the dentist this morning. While I was there I thought how much luckier we are now with comfortable chairs, modern tools, instant x-rays and cameras than used to be the case. They also try to not give any pain.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 7, 2020 17:11:46 GMT
Rags used to be ubiquitous and of course useful and sometimes disgusting when they lasted too long. I don't have any rags, but this week I threw away two old pillowcases, and a couple of weeks ago it was some old T-shirts. They all would have made magnificent rags. But I don't have a garage with a car and oily tools, and I don't have a garden. Paper towels are sufficient for all of my wiping and cleaning needs. Yes, I am a bit ashamed.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 12, 2020 13:21:50 GMT
I remember twirling my Bic pen in one of the holes of an audio cassette to tighten the tape or get it back where it belonged if it had escaped for some reason. This was at least better than when video cassettes were eaten by the VCR and you had to do some very risky tugging to get the damned thing out (and usually throw the mangled cassette away after that).
And who can forget those endless strings of cassette tape along the highways? I always had to imagine what incident led to that.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 12, 2020 17:42:01 GMT
I recently gave away my tape/cd player & all my tapes and cds to a 20 year old, telling him to ask his father about how to tighten a tape. He laughed and made the gesture of twirling a ballpoint in a cassette hole.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 30, 2021 14:23:49 GMT
I remember when television journalists had a telephone on their desk to inform them of things like the tape not being ready to play or the foreign correspondant having lost the connection. They used to have tell us what had happened and do their best to move on. Now they all have earpieces and are trained to act as though everything is normal no matter what they are being told.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 2, 2021 15:52:38 GMT
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Post by casimira on Feb 2, 2021 16:55:41 GMT
We heat our home with those gas heaters that you posted K2. They are technically not allowed but no one pays attention to the prohibition of them. We have one downstairs that heats efficiently. There is one in each of the 2 bathrooms and another in the master bedroom that I use occasionally . The study and guest room have hookups for them but we don't have any heaters in those rooms.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 2, 2021 18:11:00 GMT
I was very certain that they are still in use in many places and also that they have been banned.
As of this year, gas heating is banned in all new residences in France (fossil fuel, greenhouse gases). That means that it should continue to be used for only about 100 more years. Heating oil is also banned in new houses. That will die out faster because people have to have it delivered.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 2, 2021 18:29:16 GMT
Many homes in Louisiana have them built into the wall. They're not unattractive, often rendered in white enameled metal. They're placed right at the height where a toddler might grab them or a woman's skirt catch fire.
Speaking of burning -- it's been cold here the past couple of nights. Usually when that happens there is a smell of smoke in the air. Many people still cook in open-air kitchens here, or heat their homes with wood or coal, so the smoke is not a surprise. What is very disconcerting is the odd smell of the smoke on and off for the past several months. Recently it was announced in the paper that three crematoriums had been shut down by the city because of complaints by neighbors, and that there was concern over how to deal with the increased number of bodies. Maybe it's my over-active imagination or silly paranoia, but I've spent most of the morning wearing the surgical mask, even though I'm alone in my own house.
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Post by casimira on Feb 3, 2021 16:08:58 GMT
We never lived in a place that had the built in the wall gas heaters. One of ours and I've seen others that are quite ornate. The master bedroom has one we acquired from a local family that has a salvage store with all manner of architectural remnants from old mansions that were demolished. We chose one that has a art deco motif/design. When we went to pay for it the gentleman we knew for many years wouldn't take our money and gifted it to us. Shortly after this we received word that he had died. From that point forward we refer to the heater as "Roland", the gentleman who gave it to us. Very fitting because it provides warmth and came from such a warm person.
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Post by patricklondon on Feb 7, 2021 17:42:57 GMT
Heaters: we used to have a venerable portable paraffin heater to warm up the bathroom or any other room that needed it: Something else completely that came to mind for no particular reason: the cable system for transporting cash between sales staff and the cashiers in old-fashioned department stores (I do just remember seeing one in Gamages in London): My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 7, 2021 17:58:18 GMT
Paris had a pneumatic tube system linking every post office from 1868 until 1984. You could send a short message rolled up on blue paper anywhere else in the city and it would be delivered within one hour. I don't understand how this internet crap ever managed to replace it.
Hypermarkets used the system for cashier transfers even longer all over France - probably at least until the turn of the century. Big banks also used the tubes to render holdups impossible. The tellers had absolutely no money until the precise amount of the transaction arrived in its capsule.
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Post by mossie on Feb 7, 2021 17:58:25 GMT
I can recall both of those, our house was heated by the living room fire and one of those lovely smelly heaters which made pretty patterns on the ceiling.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 7, 2021 23:15:05 GMT
venerable portable paraffin heater lovely smelly heaters which made pretty patterns on the ceiling Thanks for that picture, Patrick -- a real blast from the past. When we lived in Spain the house was heated by a furnace under the stairs. It wasn't very big & I don't remember there being heat registers anywhere in the house. I do remember we got coal delivered for the thing & also the number of times my dad burnt off his eyebrows getting it going. We also had those kerosene heaters and my brother & I delighted in hanging over them, then examining each others nostrils to see who managed to get the blackest ones. I'm trying to envision such a system going all over a whole city -- wow! The very first time I saw a pneumatic tube system was in a venerable department store in Indianapolis when I was about 13. I was totally blown away by it and am still impressed by the dinky versions in modern day bank drive-throughs.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 8, 2021 4:29:25 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 13, 2021 15:35:06 GMT
I remember when people would hold up their lighters at concerts. I am far from certain that holding up mobile phones is more ecological. I think both are stupid.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 13, 2021 21:02:58 GMT
What is the stupidest: a) holding up lighters at a concert b) holding up phones at a concert c) holding up and swaying arms in the air at a concert d) holding up concert goers
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 15, 2021 8:38:24 GMT
When I was about 3 years old, it was of course the age at which I would follow my mother around the house like a puppy, never giving her a moment's respite. My brother had already started school, so there wasn't anybody with whom to fight. Believe it or not, my mother actually had some things to do during the day -- ironing, sweeping, darning socks... (remember when people still did that?) Anyway, she couldn't spend the entire day entertaining me as she was supposed to do.
So what I remember is the old coffee pot (not a coffee can!) that was full of extra buttons, hundreds of them. My mother would give me a blunt darning needle with a piece of thick thread. And she would tell me to string the buttons on the thread. I absolutely loved doing this (I did not have a great deal of mental capacity at the time, a bit like today.). There was a big button tied at the far end of the thread so that the buttons would not fall off. This activity was good for about an hour of fabulous entertainment for me (after all, I also had to sort out the buttons to find the very best ones) and an hour of peace and quiet for my mother.
I don't see why parents ever had to buy toys for their children.
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 7, 2021 18:39:09 GMT
When I was in university, patchouli was the favourite fragrance among most of the people that I knew. The fact that it hid the smell of cannabis very well was one of the factors in its popularity. Parents generally detested the odour even when they did not understand why it was being used.
As I was not a pot smoker, I was not a patchouli user either.
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