1. Solar heating panels. In London we had the boiler on water constant and central heating timed for all the years I sat on the downstairs loo and read the metre. Here we all have solar heated water tanks on the roof. About three times in the winter I have to put the immersion heater on because it's been cloudy all day. It doesn't have to be hot outside, only a clear sky is necessary. I never think about hot water and I certainly don't pay for it.
2. Drip irrigation. It's an Israeli invention and obviously used here and around the world for crops. But here every garden has the thin brown pipes laid over the flower beds dripping drops of water at regular intervals. And many people even have it threaded through the planters and pots on their balcony. We've gone a bit drip irrigation crazy.
3. Most people have tiled floors throughout; ceramic, marble or stone. This is how everyone cleans the floor. Forget squeegee mops or those old fashioned institutional mops with the special bucket attachments to squeeze out the dirty water.
We have a goomy on a stick which you wrap a wet floor cloth (shmatta) around and mop the floor. After a bit, as the cloth becomes dirty, you wash it in a bucket of soapy water and wring it out. There is a Middle-Eastern technique to this that gets the last drip out, leaving you with a perfectly damp cloth. You re-wrap the goomy and continue mopping the floor. It's called doing sponja.
Nowadays some people have their bedrooms carpetted and, as everywhere, the wooden (or faux-wooden) floor is also trendy. But most of us still have tiles and everyone has the goomy and shmatta. I would say sponja is a national pastime enjoyed by all ages on a weekly basis.
i wouldn't actually say enjoyed Midlife.....
ReplyDeleteHahaha - yes Sherrie, perhaps enjoyed was not the best word to choose.
DeleteSponja is an absolutely wonderful word - onomatopoeia at it's finest, I think!
ReplyDeleteIt is a great word isn't it. More fun saying it than doing it ;)
DeleteSponja, What a fab word!! Thanks for linking up. It is amazing how items become daily things that you actually forget you never had them before!. I had to really think about what I didn't use as it is all so everyday use now!
ReplyDeleteI chose it because it really is something everyone uses here and no-one uses in the UK. I, as many others do, have two - one for inside and one for outside. You can even get small ones for reaching small spaces e.g. around the toilet.
DeleteHaving lived in NZ, Oz and the UK, I'm fascinated by the way countries do things differently. When I first moved to London I thought it was totally weird how everyone had washing machines in their kitchens, and plastic tubs in their sinks to wash the dishes! I also found the potato peelers over here really strange. Funny what you get used to, isn't it (although I still refuse to use a plastic tub in the sink...)??? xx
ReplyDeleteWashing machines in the kitchen is from the days when 1. they were too unreliable to have upstairs in case of flooding and 2. you want to be able to take the heavy wet laundry straight outside to the clothes line for hanging up to dry.
DeletePlastic bowls in the sink - why do we have those? I have a ceramic sink so I like the plastic to cushion the crockery for less chance of breakage and chips. I don't know why a stainless steel sink would need.
Jews who keep kosher and only have one sink, need two separate plastic bowls - one for meat and one for dairy. This is how I grew up but now my kitchen is vegetarian.
And, having used the peelers here, I hate the English ones. I always take one to my parents' with me so I don't resent helping with peeling the vegetables.
Interesting subject isn't it.
LOL!!! At least I'm not alone in my disdain of UK Potato Peelers!!! xx
Deletemy parents have just had solar panels fitted. even in Cumbria they can generate a surplus some days!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how it doesn't need to be hot or even warm outside - you just need a bit of clear sky.
Delete"I would say sponja is a national pastime enjoyed by all ages on a weekly basis."
ReplyDeleteReally? Send me one over and I might start to clean my annoying tiled floor more often. ;-)
Erhm, when I said 'enjoyed' I was perhaps being a little over-enthusiastic. How do you clean yours?
ReplyDelete