Laundry Room Exposed: How We Do It in Morningside Heights

Noticing the abandoned books Claude snapped as she walked along the Seine, I was reminded of my found copy of "Les Anglais" by Andre Maurois.  The book was sitting on the bookshelf in our basement laundry room. A 1935 edition (original 1927), it had been discarded by a local university, still had the library pocket at the back.  A useful prop to illustrate our washing space and its sensibilities, shaped by the past fifty years in the life of Morningside Gardens.

Couple of years ago, the co-op changed vendors, updated many of the machines.  Due to much unhappiness that the Extractor had  not been equally honored, a new one was found.  (The look of this one seems only slightly updated from the previous one and I could find none similar in a Google search).

Ron and I have had to come to a meeting of the minds on extracting as a useable pursuit.  Yes, it cuts down the time in the dryer but it shortens the life of sheets.  We use if for towels, jeans.

One downside of the change was the removal of the functional and ugly bookcase.  Again, much complaint brought a smaller unit  on one wall.  Not a chance anymore to contemplate my neighbors' tastes via the range of magazines/books/catalogs.  We were delighted to have a second oversize dryer (right) added to the amenities.

Lydia at Writerquake will probably wonder why I've missed the chance to  include here some of the well-preserved sepia photos in the book--sheep grazing and a Communist rally in Hyde Park (separate pages).  I was surprised by two in particular--women undergraduates at Oxford and another of  women carrying signs "National Unemployed Women March To London" (with the phrase "calme et la dignite" in the caption).   Perhaps I'll scan some of them before I return the book to the laundry room shelf.

Maurois was well-acquainted with the English through working with them in World War One and spending time in England.  Not able to read French, I miss what scholars describe as his bemusement and curiosity about Les Anglais.  Some of how the French regard the English comes through in a contemporary way in today's NY Times article "The British Are Leaving."

Comments

[Hattie]

Have I told you about our solar clothes dryer?

[Claude]

When I was young, André Maurois was quite famous. Nowadays, I guess he is a little "passé" and wonder how I would like reading some of his books again. He was a great biography writer though.
Thanks for linking to my photo

[Hattie]

Just got around to reading the article about British ex-pats. They really aren't that many in numbers, but they are the "creatives" who have been trend setters lately. Wonder how that will change.
I also wonder how your blog will change after your big move. Maybe more blue and brown and fewer bright colors?

[sahara]

Naomi I wish I had an extractor. They are the appliance of choice in my book for sweaters. They enable me to wash my knits by hand, without the use of towels to remove excess moisture.

My laundry room has top-loading (the thinking woman's washer,LOL)machines, but I still have to hang out there to withdraw my woolens from the machine, then wait for the spin cycle, to drop them in again for 3 minutes; feh.

I wish I lived near you; I'm going down to the laundry now. Maybe I'll get some knitting in. :)