Laundry

Laundry in Morocco may be picturesque --see the photos by our daughter Claudia Schmid -- but it is also boring and time consuming.

Since we don't have a washing machine I have a trusty blue bucket instead, and a wooden paddle to stir things with. I soak things in the bucket, scrub the grubby bits, rinse things a lot – since the water is so full of minerals it’s hard to get the scum out, then wring the wretched things by hand and carry them up two long flights of stairs. Dryers exist here, but most people, like us, merely haul everything up to the roof. To be honest, I don’t attempt loads of sheets – we take them to the laundry proper.

Pegs seem to be considered rather a frill -- how much easier it is to just throw things on the wall, where everything, including blue jeans, dries almost at once.

Of course, sometimes things float off into one's neighbor's courtyard and they may or may not reappear.

All in all, washing machines are very good inventions.