two in one

i solved the laundry problem and provided my daughter with a fun activity.

this last winter, we suffered from slow-drying laundry syndrome. the indoors clothes horse, after it collapsed, had been very nicely hung on a wall at the end of our long kitchen. unfortunately, that spot seemed to be where all moisture gathered, and so each load of laundry took about a decade to dry.

i was therefore very much looking forward to being able to use the garden for drying again. unfortunately, i'd done some "landscaping" which meant the line i'd used earlier was out of commission. a new one would have to be put up, preferably along the length of the house. but how? would i have to drill holes, pour concrete, or plant a super-fast tree to support the line?

as it turned out, our favourite hardware shop turned out to have clothesline supporters in stock. i bought one of these contraptions without any idea of how it might work, hoping i'd magically figure it out.

and here's the thing -- i did! i fastened the line at two (rather low) points, propped it up with the metal pole, which has a neat and functional extending system, and we had a working clothesline. full of clothes, it makes a pleasing, slowly swinging motion, like the crocodiles of Asterix. my daughter put the line to immediate use as a giant swinging toy, and she's been hard at work emptying the washing machine ever since.