As in many other things, yes, I am unusually Euro in my laundry habits. I even have a German washer and dryer because American ones are too damn big for my tiny Euro-flat-sized house.

But in a very-American twist, I have a large porch across the whole front of my house, much of it screened from the street by plantings, and that is where I have my clotheslines. Except for those mouldering days of cool, still, fungus-making humidity, I'm able to line-dry my laundry almost year-round.

I've heard of neighborhoods where clotheslines are forbidden, but I sure don't live in one. We have chickens and goats. Ask kis, who was amazed to see a garden with both as we walked from my house to the nearby trendy hipster coffee street.