A day after I hammered it in, our builders replaced it with my old Hill's Hoist. I hadn't realised how big my clothesline was until I measured it -- each arm is eight feet long ( I would have guessed six feet), giving it a diameter of 5m. You need to allow at least a metre from any obstructions such as fences, so that your sheets can fly out in high winds without snagging.
Suddenly, my back yard feels more homelike, more like my little bit of postwar Australian suburbia. But not entirely. Here's a shot (taken by one of my children) of the Hill's Hoist in its original, convenient location: in line with the back door and close to the house to save steps.
The people who would have lived in my house first would not have ever had a back garden. They had a back yard, used for drying clothes, growing vegetables and fruit, and keeping chooks. These were not things you invited visitors to see, hence the prime location of the clothes-hoist.
These days, we cherish our outdoor time as our jobs are sedentary, and want to show off our back yards. Yet I still wanted the Hill's Hoist, so where could I put it?
My vegetable patch seemed to be a little too hot in summer: I had problems with plants suffering sunburn and dehydration. I'm moving my Hill's Hoist there, into a spot where it won't block views from our new doors. The vegetable garden will be closer to the house and water tanks, but you'll have to stay tuned for more about that.
2 comments:
A wise placement. I love Hills Hoists as you know, but would rather mine didn't block the view of the vege patch...
I must see some photos of your vegie patch -- preferably without the Hill's hoist!
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