Washer/Dryer

My laundry hassles are finally over. My flat had a washer/dryer combo unit when I moved in. But the dryer never worked. Basically, when you used the dryer the machine would add water and in the end I was left with hot, wet clothes. Boiled clothes are no fun.

My landlords had a repairman come out. He said it was fixed but it still did the same thing. So they came back and took the machine away only to find out that a special part was needed and it would take a couple of weeks. So they brought the machine back so I could at least wash clothes. But the guy hooked the thing up wrong and the it leaked water out all over the floor. So they came back to fix the leak. But that just caused it to leak in a differnt place. This went on three or four times. When the part arrived, they came to fix the machine a final time. My landlords were very appologetic about the whole thing and even brought me a couple of bottles of wine. Guess what? The dryer still didn't work and there was another leak. They finally gave up and on Friday they delivered a brand new unit. And it works!!!

There are only two laundromats in Brno. And having a dryer over here is very rare since they are expensive to run because they use a lot of energy. Everyone just has a washer and it's either in the kitchen or the bathroom. You then have to use a drying rack or hang clothes up on a clothesline out on the balcony.

In the U.S. there is no way you would not have a dryer. But I have gotten used to using my drying rack. I get a lot of sun on my balcony so it doesn't take clothes long to dry. Not quite sure how that's going to work in the winter but we'll see. And since it doesn't use electricity I can save energy, lower my utilities, etc.

Everyone says that your clothes last longer here because dryers break down the fabric. Which does makes sense. I've noticed that even with fabric softener, air drying makes your clothes a little "crunchy". But a quick run of the iron and it's all good. However, I am happy to now have a working dryer. The other cool thing is that the digital display on the machine is now set to English. Yeah!!