30.8.05: the best thing about my new flat




In Moscow, washing machines and laundromats are both something of a rarity. If you don't fancy hand-washing, you can pay for someone to come around to your flat, take your clothes away and return them 24 hours later, freshly laundered. This is quite an expensive service, though, so washing by hand is the norm.

Oddly enough, this fact gives rise to the most enjoyable feature of my share flat in Prazhskaya.

Over the tub in my bathroom hangs a wire clothesline. In Australia, the wires would be covered in soft plastic shielding to prevent unsightly marks or damage to the clothes. Not so here; you literally get just four bare lengths of wire about the same thickness as violin strings. It was while preparing to hang my first load of washing over these wires this morning that I noticed their resemblance to the strings on a musical instrument, so - in a moment of pure silliness - I tried plucking them. And guess what? Two of the wires are actually in tune with one another! Thusly have I become, for the first time ever, the proud owner of a musical clothesline.

Of course, the possibilities inherent in just two strings are somewhat limited. So after nearly, but not quite, managing to bash out Vader's Theme from Star Wars in an open tuning, I began to wonder how the potential repertoire of my new instrument might be expanded.

There's a lever at one end of the clothesline for tightening the wires if they become slack, which is rather good for fine tuning adjustments. Much more interesting, though, was the discovery that hanging different items of clothing on the wires will change their pitch, like filling a row of wine glasses with differing amounts of liquid. How cool is that?

During the long months of winter, I'm sure there'll be opportunities to explore this further. So expect a wire symphony to appear on this page at some point (or at least an irresistibly catchy three-minute pop tune).

Then again, maybe I'll actually manage to get a life here ...