American Living in London for 12 Years: AMA

[Anonymous]

I emigrated from the uk long ago but still have a dry and rather dark sense of humor. It does cause raised eyebrows at work. One problem for me is I don’t find the popular sitcoms here funny at all. At the movies I don’t laugh when everyone else is, and I laugh when nobody else is.

On the drier thing, my sis lives in London, well to do, big house, three kids etc. Her washer and drier are separate and are high end, but she hangs her laundry outside whenever the weather is nice. She does a ton of laundry too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brit reading this. So do you (Americans) put ALL of your clothes in the dryer? I do have a dryer, and I had one all my life growing up in the UK - not a combo but a separate dryer - and I would still never put lots of things in it. e.g. bras, knitwear, dresses, skirts. I pretty much use it for sheets and towels, underpants, socks, and casual tshirts, etc. Everything else I put on a drying rack in my laundry room.

No, we don't put delicates or items that would shrink in the dryer. I usually hang dry those items on hangers on shower curtain rod. Sometimes I drape them on a chair. I've never had or known anyone to have a drying rack but they sound incredibly practical; I think I'll get one.

[Anonymous]

Just spotted OP in a Berkshire village. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-berkshire-52812589/ministry-of-silly-walks-comes-to-sonning-during-lockdown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brit reading this. So do you (Americans) put ALL of your clothes in the dryer? I do have a dryer, and I had one all my life growing up in the UK - not a combo but a separate dryer - and I would still never put lots of things in it. e.g. bras, knitwear, dresses, skirts. I pretty much use it for sheets and towels, underpants, socks, and casual tshirts, etc. Everything else I put on a drying rack in my laundry room.

No, we don't put delicates or items that would shrink in the dryer. I usually hang dry those items on hangers on shower curtain rod. Sometimes I drape them on a chair. I've never had or known anyone to have a drying rack but they sound incredibly practical; I think I'll get one.

I learned from living in the UK how much damage a dryer does to clothing. It wears them out more quickly. With a drying rack so many clothes can be left to dry naturally, which helps them last. I use my dryer for towels and underwear but otherwise I try to air dry everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Brit here. Yes, we all had washers, dryers, dishwashers and my house even had garbage disposal - though it is called waste disposal. It’s England, not Middle Earth.

Brit here, we had a dryer but did you use it! My sister just bought a million dollar house in London, but still hangs the washing out in the garden! No American would ever do that, but no one thinks anything of it, it's considered normal and folks like fresh laundry from a breeze!

Such an interesting cultural difference. Here in the States, I think many people iwould consider hanging laundry outside a very low class and unsightly thing. I would be surprised to see it anywhere other than perhaps a rural farm. My grandparents (frugal Depression era people) were the only people I've ever known in my life who dried clothes outside by choice. When they built their house, they intentionally designed their home with a detached garage to create a central courtyard where they could hang laundry because visible laundry was prohibited by the HOA. Never before or never since have I known anyone who hangs their laundry outside by choice in the States. They had a dryer in their laundry room but only used it when it was raining outside.

I grew up in the midwest. The idea that laundry hanging out side is low class/unsightly is an example of classism. Growing up, everyone I knew frequently line dried their clothes/sheets (nothing better than line dried sheets). Even when I lived in Arlington in the 90s, every house I lived in had a clothes line in the backyard. Certainly, many of those clothes lines first went up when dryers weren't common but it's also a recognition that it costs money to run dyers, the sun can do it for free and thriftiness is a midwestern value. I have a clothes line (retractable) in my back yard as well as a line and rack in my basement. It's used nearly every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many silly questions. Washer/dryers, Royals, air conditioning etc...Is this really what Americans want to know about London?!

OP has disappeared. Rubbish AMA.

Rubbish indeed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just spotted OP in a Berkshire village. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-berkshire-52812589/ministry-of-silly-walks-comes-to-sonning-during-lockdown

That’s not London. I went to school in that village though. Nice little place, great pubs.

[Anonymous]

OP: is the show “Apple & Onion” popular in the UK?