Line drying laundry in the Middle East

[ThighsRelief]

I was hanging out washing today here in London and marvelling at how quickly it dried (about 27 today).

I've been wondering about places where is regularly 50. What do you do? Hang it out at night and bring it in very early? It would be too hot to do the pegging out in the daytime surely?

I have no good reason for asking just wondered!

Pulley style washing lines were quite common in the UK in the 50s, 60s and 70s. People who lived in upstairs flats could open their kitchen window, lean out and peg the washing out. I can remember them in SE London.

I live in the Middle East, and we hang our washing inside during the summer. One reason is obviously that it's too hot to stand outside for 15min hanging washing, the other is that it's so dusty during the summer that the newly washed clothes get dusty. Third reason would be that the clothes dries so quickly and will then just get 'burned' by the sun, colors will fade etc.

I've hung out laundry in the mountains and semi desert areas in California - when it's properly hot 40 - 50 often the first item is dry by the time you hang up the last item. It's amazing!

I think today is the day to put quilts out.

We mustn't let anyone see us here enthusing over line drying, it's not cool 😎

My sister lives in a hot country, she doesn't hang laundry overnight.
Too many bugs end up sleeping there during the night ( when they are most active, hunting etc), and one type of spider in particular that has silk as strong as cotton loves spinning thread all over the clothes, which means having to pick it all off next day. So overnight laundry often has bugs sleeping in pockets and inside seams etc.

It's not about getting "darked on", ht countries have lots of creepy crawlies which are most active during the night.

I have lived in a hot country too.
Laundry was dried under cover, on the back porch or similar. No need to hang in the sun when it is really hot ( and colours fade too much) . Much easier job to hang out in the morning under shade,

Wishing for one of those pulley washing lines in my flat... I so miss my garden and a good drying day.

speak and being darked on.

In the 70s we had a pulley in the kitchen but everyone smoked, and the cooking smells. We must have stank, but then everyone smoked everywhere, they probably couldn't smell us.

When staying with friends in the middle east, laundry was hung out in evening/overnight so as not to fade or damage anything plastic-y/waterproof/lycra. The rule was no more than an hour outside in the sun for washing!

When we loved in Riyadh, I only hung the washing outside once. Sand and dust everywhere. Too dirty to hang clean washing out. We used the tumble dryer along with all the other families on our compound. I swept and dusted in the house every single day so you can only imagine what it was like outside....

I once had a lodger from Texas who told me that they didn't dry their clothes outside because the sun was so hot it bleached them. Mind boggling.

I lived in Houston (v hot and humid. Frequency 32 degrees and often close to 💯 humidity). No one legged washing out. Used to drive me made. Sure on the most humid days don’t bother. But generally? Our house didn’t have a washing line so is used to be the weird foreigner and used a big airer in the garden

So it appears I’m the only person in the Middle East who leaves my washing out all day in the sun 😂😂

When I lived in Spain there was a room at the back of the house to dry washing in.

It was 47 today with 80% humidity! You can still go outside to peg out washing! It dries very quickly! I quite like the heat but you can’t be out for too long!

@AgentProvocateur, nope, not just you! If it's a bit dusty I hang it indoors, but unless there's an impending sandstorm, I hang mine out in the day - I LOVE being able to get a superking size bed set washed, dried and back on the bed in less than 2 hours

Great thread

I was born in northern British Columbia. My parents were living in a remote camp where my Dad, a newly qualified engineer, was responsible for a crew of workers. It got very cold there in the winter and there were no tumble dryers. My mom loved to talk about the porch my Dad built onto their little trailer, where she would hang out my washed diapers to freeze, then bring them in to thaw, then hang them out to freeze again, and repeat. Their fold down bed would freeze to the wall. It got to -50f sometimes. I have no idea how they coped but they loved that early time in their marriage.

Agree it’s far too dusty in Doha to hang washing out, definitely contributed to asthma symptoms in dc which disappeared when we moved (to a similarly dusty place but with a drier).
You can be out in 45° heat for 10-20 minutes - we all have to do the school run in it.

I don’t know why I’m enjoyong this thread so much

MardAsSnails - your TopTip of filling the fridge water dispenser with white wine is truly inspired
I'll be doing that when I visit my family in N.C. in a couple of weeks for sure. The guest accommodation has its own little kitchen, so no chance of getting the kids drunk - theoretically,anyway

We're in the USA at the moment and it is shocking how everyone uses tumble driers. It has been 37 with a light breeze, not dusty at all, and I'm the only one hanging out laundry! Truly boggles the mind. Electricity must be very cheap but how awful for the environment.

I live in Doha and work outside mainly, all year round on sites. But I also have a dryer for laundry, it doesn't do well in humidity and more often than not, gets crapped on by pigeons

I grew up in hot area and strangely we just put the washing out when we wanted too. It dries quickly and yes towels were hardened up but it just meant you got a loofah the first time you used them. Seriously?😒 I was one concerned about the snakes and frogs being in the washing machine and the loo tbh (outdoor laundry and loo).

As for when it reached 48 or 49... you wore a hat if you had to be outdoors. It just was what it was, you didn’t melt and you coped. And prayed to whatever powers for rain.