Things that are different #1 and a consequence thereof

[theatokos]

Things here are smaller than in the United States.

Not just the cars or the compact nature of the towns or even the distances between places. But most everything seems smaller. Food portions. Quantities. The number of choices in grocery stores (and thank god for that, I mean who needs an entire isle of shampoo choices?). The size of homes. The beds - the king, and largest size, bed is the US equivalent of a queen. We have a double which is 6 feet long. Adam is 6 feet 1 inch tall. Ovens. The size of door frames in buildings built more than 100 years ago (I have been told, by a Welshman, that the Welsh used to be a small people). These doorframes are maybe 5 feet 10 inches high, but once inside the ceilings are about 12 feet high!

Most of these things are good. I don't need 400 choices of everything. Smaller cars are better. I will mock your Ford Explorers (and such like). SUVs like that would dwarf everything here save semis and maybe the garbage truck. I like smaller portions.

The big challenge? Smaller washing machines and the fact that very few people have in-home dryers. Even in winter everyone line dries their clothes. The washing machines are energy and water effecient - yay! But a large load takes 2+ hours to do. I have discovered that cloth diapering has become far more difficult. I cannot do a whole bag of diapers in one wash. They will take forever to dry. I certainly have enough diapers to manage this, but the reality that we will be doing laundry everyday and everyday we will have diapers (and reagular clothes) hanging about our house, inside and out, is more than a little daunting. I'm too committed to cloth diapering to give up now. We can always haul our wet laundry down the hill to dry at the laundromat.... once we get a car.

I don't want to quit cloth diapering, because I think disposables are so gross and I can't bear to put those things into a landfill where they won't breakdown for a hundred or more years. YUCK. But ask me in the middle of January whether I'm still cloth diapering. Yikes.

Comments

Laundry

[chiv.livejournal.com]

If you have the time, you could always use the university dryers. There's a laundry room in the Old building where the dryers are big enough to carry two washing loads and cost 20p for quarter of an hour.
alternatively there's the laundrette on Bridge street.

Re: Laundry

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we've thought of those things. It's just a matter of lugging the wet down and the dry back up. We're up the hill behind St James Church. My backside is going to be SO firm.

[bloodfever.livejournal.com]

Can you buy a dryer? If you are in Lampeter for 3 years with all those winter loads of nappies it will be worth it!

Of course, if they are rare then they might be exy. Here a basic dryer is around AU$350.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

We've thought about it. We're going to price one and see what the utility bills are without and how Adam does with work, etc. You know, all those 'waiting and seeing' sort of things. I don't think I'll want to deal with crunchy or damp in the middle of winter.

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

Sounds like an incentive to start working on potty training!

[keypike.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking!

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

How soon is too soon to potty train? Just yesterday or so Bennett begun tapping his crotch to indicate that he's wet. That's a good sign right? but he's only 16 months and doesn't really talk, so I don't want to push it.... but the fewer diapers the better!

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

I think we started introducing Sam to it around that age, without expecting him to actually get it. We just figured the more he used the potty, the less we had to deal with dirty diapers, so even if he wasn't being "trained" it was still a win-win situation. I know a few decades ago kids were potty trained before they were 2 years old, so it's certainly possible if you want to commit yourself to it.

[bravenewcentury.livejournal.com]

I don't think tumble dryers are standard in rented houses, but I wouldn't say they were terrifically uncommon in general, and they're not enormously expensive- my mum bought us a condenser dryer for my old house in Durham and it was about £200, and if you have somewhere you could run a vent they're considerably cheaper than that. I couldn't say for sure what the impact on our electricity bill was (particularly as it was also hiked by the guys playing video games half the day on their massive television and leaving lights on everywhere) but it does make a big difference not having wet things everywhere, particularly in the winter.

The size of American portions kind of scares me. My parents went on holiday to Arizona at Easter (with a long stopover in California) and about half their photos are of the food because they were WTFing over it so much.

[ardaraith.livejournal.com]

lol. My Irish boyfriend came to visit me here in Austin, Texas this summer. He was continually amazed at the portion sizes, as well as the physical size of many people eating those portions!

You could get one of those washer/dryer combos where the machine acts as both. They are pretty cool, though it still takes a long time for a load. Drying things on the radiator has saved my life many times!!

Just Say No To Laundry!

[lopezuna.livejournal.com]

Whatever about a dryer, it's definitely worth investing in a clothes horse, as "good drying weather" is very scarce in the winter.

That kinda sucks about the nappies. Now I see why my mum considers the pill, the washing machine and the disposable nappy the three essential pillars of women's lib (we were 1970s babies, so terry nappies and rubber pants all the way). But they do say that kids in cloth train earlier, because they feel the sensation of being wet, so maybe there's hope in that direction?

Re: Just Say No To Laundry!

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

You know, just in the last few days Bennett has been tapping his crotch when he pees, letting us know he's wet. So..... maybe we won't have to worry too much longer!

[readthisandweep.livejournal.com]

All my children were cloth nappied. I didn't own a washing machine until child #2, boiled nappies in a cauldron on the stove & line dried everything.

Yes, I know ~ this is the 21st century & women have better things to do (PhD anyone?) but the point is ~ outside laundry is do~able, even in the rain.

I wouldn't consider a dryer ~ they are expensive to run & shockingly eco~unfriendly. (We are Witches ~ we can do better than contribute to unneccesary pollution!) There are some clever covered outdoor rotary washing lines available. My friend, earthdragoness has one ~ www.rotaire.com ~ & loves it. ;)

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and I think a dryer needs a vent and..... I can't see it as practical or economical for us. If worse comes to worse we'll just schlep things down to the laundrette. I do miss how the drying makes things soft. Line drying makes everything crispy. Boo. I'll just have to break down and get an iron!

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

Fabric softener in the wash will help! I used to have to line-dry everything and when I started using fabric softener in the wash it was not nearly as crispy after being line-dried.