You've made your bed, you'd better lie in it

[venta]

This morning I have been domesticity incarnate.

I've vacuumed stairs, dusted rooms, changed my bed, done all manner of things.

Having stripped the sheets off my bed to wash them, I thought I'd be dead clever and hang my duvet out on the line to air for a bit.

I did.

Some time later, I noticed it had vanished. Closer examination revealed that it had not, in fact, disappeared, just fallen off the line. Which was odd, since I'd pegged it firmly and it's not exactly windy out there. No, the washing line had broken, dumping my quilt onto the wet, muddy lawn.

I picked it up. It didn't seem too dampened, so I hoped it'd dry off. The mud would brush off, mostly, and "wash duvet" would go on the list of jobs for the near future. Later, when it seemed dry, I brought it in. I thought I caught a faint hint of an odd smell as I lifted it off the line - but I have a fairly poor sense of smell and I couldn't track it down.

Ten minutes later, when I'd pegged out the wet sheets to dry, the duvet had been sitting in an enclosed space, and the source of the problem was obvious. Part of the reason the grass was wet must have been because something (probably a fox, though possibly a tom - we get a lot of both in our garden) had pissed all over it. It stank. "Wash duvet" shot up the list to #1 priority.

The smell seems to be peculiarly insidious, and develops over time. Ten minutes later, the dressing gown I'd been wearing when carrying my quilt about also stank. It's gone in the washer. Yes, I was pottering about in the garden in my dressing-gown. It's Saturday.

A king-size duvet won't fit in the washer, so it's currently sitting soaking in the bath. Quite how I'm going to dry it is something of a mystery - particularly since I don't trust the washing line any more. Suggestions welcome.

bateleur, I'll try to be at yours in time. If I'm not, then this is why, and I apologise profusely.

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

That's no problem - I'd rather you were late than turned up smelling of wee !

[taimatsu]

If all else fails, LAUNDRETTE. Or dry-cleaners will often do duvets.

Drying it - have you got a clothes-horse and/or a lot of chairs? You could use those to support it in the garden, and spray them with Mr Sheen or something afterwards.

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

Yeah, laundrettes have big washers and tumble dryers - it should fit in there.

Tip from 'How clean is your house' is to tumble dry quilts with a few clean tennis balls - apparently they stop the filling bunching up.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I didn't know about the tennis balls. Though I've not had too much problem with bunchy filling in the past - possibly because I have a cheap'n'nasty polyester duvet not a posh feathery one.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Laundrette is my standard answer for duvet-washing, unfortunately I was on a time-limit on Saturday (I was due at bateleur's at 2) and didn't have time to do it all properly.

In the end, I settled the duvet over our two washing lines, pegged it up and hoped for the best.

When I got back on Saturday night, it was still dripping. It came in, and hung around over the bath, then spent yesterday on the line as well - and the sodding thing is still wet.

Bah, humbug. And damn all foxes. I'm going to start the Swinburne Road Hunt. We will wear denim jackets and ride scooters and shout quot;Bastards!" a lot.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

I doubt that 50% of the population would be against fox hunting if they had to let a fox wee on their duvet in order for their vote to count.

[broadmeadow.livejournal.com]

By the same measure, of course, my otherwise unpopular cat-related views would have much greater popular support if the only opinions that counted were those of people who have to contend with the filthy vermin crapping in their gardens.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

It is funny how the fact of being someone's pet means that a creature can do something which would be utterly unacceptable, and fairly punishable by means of wire snares or thrown boots, if done by either a wild animal or the owner of the pet.

[venta.livejournal.com]

This is another of those stealth comments :( As was ar_gemlad's, above.

By which I mean my email notification is mysteriously silent, and I only notice them by chance. Does anyone else seem to have this problem ?

[liriselei.livejournal.com]

not as such, but kinda - the comments all happily trundle along to my Wanadoo webmail inbox, but like it there so much that they refuse to pop3 down to Eudora. i'd probably try to find out why if i wasn't such a lazy sod...