The busy holiday season is coming to an end for many. With all the bustle and busyness, however, I had a dilemma on hand. When trying to get ready for family and friends, as I did do some entertaining during the holidays, both for the early Christmas and later for the Ukrainian one, my washing machine failed me.
With a stack of laundry still to do, the computerized panel decided to give me trouble, filling the machine with water but refusing to do anything else. Thinking a rest might do the trick, I left everything in tact and tried again a bit later with no results. No use calling a repairperson at this late date as the weekend was here. Wringing items of clothing was an experience which took me back in time.
Electrical power came into my childhood home in 1956 when much of rural
Saskatchewan was electrified. For a period of time there were gas washing machines which required ventilation when in use, but before that were the rather primitive manual washers. A person had to pull the handle or else rotate the agitator to wash the clothes. This procedure involved other family members to help and usually the operation took the entire day. A wringer, attached to the machine, helped to take the water out when the cycle was completed. Then there was the rinse cycle in a large washtub. A wringer was used once again but there were always buttons and other attachments on clothes which required wringing the items by hand.
Do you remember the bluing procedure for the whites and the starching one for dress shirts? Then the air drying of clothes on a long clothesline followed. Summer was fine, but in winter the stiff items were brought indoors to finish drying. In the limited space indoors, often this was a challenge with clothes drying everywhere.
We have come along way since then, so now when something interferes with our regular routine it is a challenge and a nuisance. Well, after a two-week wait, my machine got fixed for a price and now I am playing catch-up on the laundry with extra tablecloths, dish towels, and other towels. Now is a good time to straighten drawers.
