How do you do laundry on a narrowboat?

A while ago I asked my readers what they would like to read about on the blog, and I got plenty of interesting answers. Curiously there were several questions about doing the laundry!

Jess said, “I'm going to have a washing machine on my new boat (very exciting), but how on earth am I going to dry sheets in winter? Do people just use laundrettes in winter for big things? Any ideas?!”

I have used the launderette for sheets. But often I will just peg it folded over the tiller. Peg it tight - I lost a double sheet into the Cut on a windy day! I didn't see it go... I assume it blew away and then sank eventually. Indoors I hang sheets over long copper pipes that are part of the heating system, or over the curtain rail across the front door, and sometimes over the shower door - anywhere I can really. On a hot summer day I sometimes spread them across the roof; steel gets very hot! Sheets or clothes will then dry on the roof very quickly. It reminded me of when I was in India, watching the ladies of Varanasi spread their laundry on the Ghats beside the Ganges.

I also have a Brolley Mate which can be used to hold a lightweight rotary washing line onto the tiller. We have a trad stern on our boat but it rises above the roof level and half of the washing line hangs over the canal.

On our last boat we had a rotary washing line that was held in a specially made hole in the deckboards (pictured.) Also, when in remote countryside I have been known to peg up a line in the trees or a hedge!

Ironing

Andy and Sue are planning to move aboard soon and asked me, “How do you do the ironing when not connected to shore power?”

Good question. On my first boat I had a little travel iron that ran off a 12volt plug – the kind you can plug into a cigarette lighter socket. It was rubbish!

Now I have a travel iron from Argos that requires an ordinary 240volt supply but I made sure that it was only 900 watts. Hinari Travel Steam Iron It runs off our 1500 watt pure sine wave invertor.

The Launderette Equation

Before we had a washing machine I was very frustrated about the amount of time I spent taking tiny children and lots of laundry, on foot, to the launderette.

I decided there must be a scientific equation for how posh an area is versus how close is the nearest launderette. The nicer the area you are visiting, the less likely there is to be a launderette. However, finding a launderette is not a problem in inner city areas.

The Launderette Equation for Boaters

(Local house price) / (commuter train fare to London) x (N) = distance to launderette from mooring.

Further research is required to ascertain N and calculate the distance of the boat from the launderette.

If you travel a lot get yourself a copy of the Aylesbury CanalSociety Launderette List. “Many boaters won't boat without it.”

Read more about launderettes and laundry in my boating life.

As with many parts of boating, there’s never just one solution to a problem. It takes all different boats and different boaters to find different ways of doing things. How do you do your laundry?

The Final Equation

Living with a scientist means that I sometimes try my hand at formulating scientific equations that re-calculate my reality. A quirky quark of quantum physics means that The New Boat is bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. I can explain the recent alteration in my reality like this:

(Our own bedroom + washing machine) x (70 feet divided by 4 people) minus launderette trips

= More Time and Space.

Rambling

I plugged my phone in to charge but it’s not charging, even though the invertor is on. I find my miserable monologue has a new mantra. ‘This would never happen in a house.’ Being a stay at home mum is becoming more recognised as hard work, but the little hiccups of boating life added to sleep deprivation are prime elements for another equation.
(sleep deprivation) + (limitations of a narrowboat home) – (most mod cons) – (friends, family, human company) = the return of the miserable monologue.

The Doctor is back at work and the girls miss him. Sometimes Big Sister cries “because I miss Daddy so much.” So I give her a little framed photo of the handsome Doctor to look at.

“Parenting at home can be very socially isolating. It is easy to find that the only grown-up you talk to is your partner. Widening your support network is essential to help both of you deal with the stress and boredom of the everyday, and also just to refresh yourself with some different company now and again. There are, of course, some very useful websites through which you can meet local mums and/or just vent your frustrations (Mumsnet Talk being, obviously the best!)”

Toddlers – The Mumsnet Guide

How come I don’t even have time for Mumsnet? My lovely baby is 11 months old now. Shouldn’t I be coping better?

I saw one of the Busy Bees mums go by on the towpath with her pushchair today. My beady eyes spied her across the cut. I know her – I know her name! She’s not a friend. Only barely an acquaintance. But I briefly connected with another mother if only for an instant. No she didn’t see me, she doesn’t know my boat. She doesn’t know I’m here. But for a fraction of a second I thought, ‘We are not alone.’

As Rory McLeod would say, “I can’t survive on the kindness of these lovely strangers here.”

Rory Mcleod is an ex-circus clown and fire eater. “A one man soulband, poet and storyteller, singing his own unique upbeat dance stories. A modern travelling troubadour using tap shoes, acappella, harmonica, guitar, trombone, spoons, finger cymbals, bandorea, djembe and various percussion instruments!”

He wished to find a rambling woman to accompany him on his travels. I was lucky enough to find my rambling man. I wonder if Rory and his woman kept travelling after they had their ramblin’ kids?

“So don’t let me go darlin’
I love you now don’t make me stay
Come with me darlin’ when I have to go, when I have to tear myself away
And be my rambling woman
I’ll be your rambling man
And together we will go
Holding each others hand
And I’ll accompany you my darling
Whenever you have to roam
You’ll be my countryside darlin’
And I’ll be your home.
Won’t you come with me when I go?”

Working boat wives were not so isolated. When the men went to canal-side pubs, they’d be moored alongside other families, and while the women minded the children on board they could catch up with their temporary neighbours moored next door. They were part of a community.

“’Spite of all you hears about ‘drunken boatwomen’ most of ‘em was content of ‘n evenin to loose their chaps orf to the pub while they stayed tied to their kiddies and the cabin. It was a chance for Mum to catch oop on her chores ready for mornin and catch oop with news of the Cut with the women moored alongside.”

Ramlin Rose, Sheila Stewart p.33

The Boatman

Sunday 25th July

Dr Swan is here to visit and staying on board for the weekend. We are sat on the back deck and I’m telling him that our boating neighbours are so often single men, often drinkers, often divorced and sometimes ‘escaping’ from society. Less common are couples and very rare are families. I told him that I once re-wrote the lyrics to the Boatman song by the Levellers to describe the different types of people you might find on the cut.

The Boatman

“if i could choose the life i please then i would be a boat man
on the canals and the rivers free no hasty words are spoken
my only law is the river breeze that takes me to the open seas
If i could choose the life i please then i would be a boat man”

- The Levellers

if i could choose the life i please i'd be a water pikie
that plant pot growing on the roof is ganja more than likely
my only law is gaffa tape it gets yer boat lookin ship shape
If i could choose the life i please i'd be a water pikie

if i could choose the life i please then i would be a boat yard
to get your boat fixed up down here will over load your credit card
and if you break down on the cut we're gonna charge you mega bucks
so if you need to get towed out make sure you call the boat yard

if we could choose the life we please then we could be brass polishers
Our mushroom vents and horse brasses could not get any shinier
There's lace doilies in our port holes and two ridiculous rag dolls
The boaters call us Rosy n Jims because we are brass polishers

if i could choose the life i please then i would be a fisherman
Just sitting fishing in the rain the waterways militia-man
Boaters barge into my rod
then give a friendly boating nod
They think the cut was built for boats
I wish I threw my fish at em.

But we all choose the life we please and some of us are boat men
on the canals and the rivers free no hasty words are spoken
my only law's the river breeze that takes me to the open seas
We can all choose the life we please and some of us are boat men.


We are sat among the wildflowers on the riverbank, under the trees, watching the hire boats go by – they are always bad drivers. Posh Tupperware boats on daytrips go past our boat too fast. The etiquette is to slow down past moored craft or your wake will rock our boat and at its worst can pull our mooring pegs out of the ground.

I am feeling more calm even though I am still busy. Big Sister woke three times last night. I think I need to invent another scientific equation to calculate anxiety levels.

(Number of times woken by children) - (estimated hours of sleep lost) x (your age), and double that number to find the percentage of anxiety likely to be experienced the next day.

If this figure is over seventy percent you will be in tears by mid-afternoon. If it is over ninety percent there is a good chance that you will blame your partner for everything and start a row. This can be illustrated thus:

(Sleep deprivation induced anxiety) x (units of alcohol) + (name and blame) = verbal dispute.

The Launderette Equation

There must be a scientific equation for how posh an area is versus how close is the nearest launderette.

i.e

• Posh area (Broxbourne) = no launderette. Zero. (An N of 0.)
• Cheshunt. Twenty minute walk to the mooring, but twenty five minutes if you have to wait at the level crossing . 

(Local house price) / (commuter train fare to London) x (N) = distance to launderette from mooring.

Further research is required to ascertain N and calculate the distance of the boat from the launderette.