I'm A Bloody American!

So I'll be returning to the US in less than two weeks--it feels like I just got here in some respects. I am glad to be going back to what hopefully will be warmer weather and longer days (today's sunrise was at 7:09am and the sun will set at 5:18pm, which really doesn't matter if you are under constant clouds!).

The one thing that I have missed the most is the tumble dryer. It is terribly inefficient energy wise and probably leads to the rest of the world hating us (amongst other things), but damnit it is just so useful. Very few homes in the UK have tumble dryers and I have not come across one in my travels around Europe, but by no means is it a required home appliance in homes like it is back in the US.

It's just nice to do laundry when you have a tumble dryer. You just stuff your laundry from one machine to the other, set it, and forget it! An hour later, it's dry and you just fold it and put it away. I have to find radiators and things to hang our clothes on. And my clothes just don't feel as nice! There's just something about tumble drying that makes me clothes feel so much more softer. When I was little, my mother used to hang our laundry outside during the summer. And I just remember hating it because it felt different. I also have to iron a whole lot since air drying doesn't quite leave your clothes crisp and de-wrinkled. I also have an iron injury--a nice little burn on my hand because I just wasn't paying attention. I think doing the laundry without a tumble dryer adds 26 hours of work in completing your laundry because it takes about a day to dry and then like 2 hours of ironing. Terribly inefficient. And for all you women out there, it is much better to tumble dry your cotton underwear because the extreme heat kills the bacteria that can cause things like yeast infection--FACT!

If Dan were to make me settle here, I am going to have to put a tumble dryer in our home. I can't go long term without one, and this little adventure has just proven that.