Here it is, the centre of the action, the washing machine. It does it all, almost. Just choose the programme you need and the water enters the machine and it begins to turn After an hour, according to the programme, it spins for 10 minutes and you can hang the washing to dry.

Today you can have a so-called tumbler, another machine. Just load the damp washing and in an hour approximately the tumbler dries it with hot air. However, I do not have a tumbler. It is all a question of cost. The washing machine uses electricity to turn the parts and to heat the water and electricity is not cheap. And the tumbler needs hot air. That is the reason why my washing is done from 9.00 in the evening as then electricity is half price. A tumbler would be useful but that would really be a little over the top in expense. I once had one, but stopped using it.

And I find that washing that dries normally in the fresh air is a natural process.

And you think that is all there is, not exactly.

The last part of the adventure is folding the laundered goods and putting them where they belong. I had a three man family, just imagine the sock wash and pairing the socks together. That was where I gave up and just made three piles of socks for the men to sort it themselves. Of course there seems to be washing machines that actually eat socks, meaning that the partner sock is often digested by some sort of washing demon. I am sure it sits in the machine and chews socks.