Non! Je Ne Repasse Rien...

...rien, rien, je ne repasse* rien**

The place we are staying has a washing machine, Dieu merci, but no dryer. This is okay; there is a drying rack in the garage, and I just brought it in and set it near the radiator***.

I got to thinking about many French women I know. They iron things. Things like socks. Underwear. Dish towels. And you know what?

I don't. I don't iron anything if I can avoid it.

I think I'd rather poke my eyes out with chopsticks than iron something.

Granted, ironing things means that you can store them more neatly. A crisp pillowcase is a joy to behold. But really. I can't be bothered.

So it was with some trepidation that I folded a clean dish towel and put it away in the cupboard next to the stiffly pressed ones. Will the owners care? Will they rent this house to me again?

I had to laugh as I was hanging the wet clothes on the rack; all of the clothespins were grouped according to color. And as I said to my daughter, this place makes me a little nervous, because it is so CLEAN. I'm thinking that someone's just a little obsessive-compulsive. It makes me smile to think that an unironed dishtowel or mixed up clothespins would make a person shiver.

But I really want to be able to rent this house again, so perhaps I'll keep everything just so.

_______________________________________________________

* Je ne repasse rien = I don't iron anything

**with apologies to Michel Vaucaire, Charles Dumont, and Edith Piaf.

*** for those of you with no dryer, here's a trick I used to do: Hang your clothes on the rack. Set it in front of the radiator. Cover the rack with a sheet, so that three sides are enveloped. The heat from the radiator is held in by the sheet, and the clothes dry superfast!

Comments

[Katherine]

Ooh, thanks for the tip, we have a washer dryer but never use the dryer as it's rubbish and uses too much energy.

I rarely iron too, no need to iron cloths and underwear for goodness sake.

[Betty C.]

I just hate it when French women start talking about "leur repassage," as in "samedi j'ai fait mon repassage." And what about ironing sheets? I know some women who are total slaves to it.

Me, it's practically "rien de rien," but we had to break down and pay someone to iron some things. Et non, je ne regrette rien!

[bhd]

Wow. Who knew my mother was French?

Me? Not so much. Like, not at all. Even though some French blood courses through my veins. On my father's side.

[Heather]

The first time I was in France, my house mother did all my laundry, and ironed my underwear. And the ironing ruined all of elastic. But it took me a really long time to figure out what the heck was going on, and why my underwear was falling apart so fast.

[Margaret]

Je ne repasse rien non plus. (is that even grammatical?)

[meredith]

ME NEITHER...well, except my husband's work shirts..and that's only if he is making me a big pot of coffee while I'm doing it!

[Elisabeth]

My mother is one of those French women (of course, of an older generation, she is now 86) who irons absolutely everything, from shirts, to dish towels, to underwear. I always loved the way she did the laundry (no dryer in her house either), and recently mentioned in my blog how smelling the scent of clothes washed by her still makes me smile.

I, on the other hand, seldom iron anything, but with a caveat. I have a dryer, and most everything, if retrieved quickly enough from the dryer and promptly folded - very neatly - is as good as ironed. I cannot stand wrinkled stuff, though, and iron even a dish towel that looks wrinkled. I don't iron shirts, because I take them to the cleaner's.

My house could be a whole lot cleaner than it is right now. I always keep it very neat and surface clean, but it needs a good scrubbing at this point in time. I am now spending a couple of nights at my ex's apartment (he's out of the country), and this reminds me of how neat as a pin he is. The decor is zen like, and the place is immaculate. My mission is to keep it that way (or I'll never get to use his place again, which is really a big perk to me.)

Hope you're having fun in France!

[Lauren/ Paida]

I have found out from in-laws that Mexicans also iron everything. The amazing thing about my mother-in-law is that she is so darn FAST when she irons.

I am the world's worst ironer - it takes me FOREVER to iron a shirt and it still will have wrinkles - luckily for me I never iron anything. My MIL looks like she only gives a shirt a few passes over with an iron and it is PERFECT.

However she has told me about how when she was working and raising my husband and his 3 siblings she would spend many hours every Sunday ironing. No thanks.

Glad you are enjoying France. Love reading about the trip.

[anica]

Je ne repasse rien, aussi.

Have you heard of the TOBI?

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a AWESOME 2008. I can't believe that we are almost through the first decade of the new millenium.

[Joolie]

I always think it's kind of fun to stay super tidy in other people's houses, even though I'm a slob in my own. Have a great Christmas, and for god's sake don't scramble the yellow and blue clothespins!

[Susan]

I hate ironing also, that's why I buy as many knit clothes as possible. They are the easiest to iron. But if you get them out of the dryer fast and hang them up, you may not have to iron at all.

The radiator sheet sounds like a brilliant idea.

I remember my mother making me iron pillow cases.

[Loulou]

Moi non plus! I abhor ironing!!!! That fact shocks and amazes our friends.
(which I secretly love)

[Citronella]

Augh. Ironing. My mom is a bit less frantic than my grand-mother on the subject, and only irons pants, shirts, and pillowcases.

But I am totally hopeless at ironing (one of the reasons being that I never really learned, for my mother oscillated between complaining I wasn't ironing my laundry and taking the irons from my hand to put and end to the slaughter).

I am actually desperate right now because I bought this nice shirt that I don't dare putting in the dryer and which is all wrinkled and I'll have to iron it if I ever want to wear it again and it's going to take ages and it will still have wrinkles in the end.

[kkonmymind]

Oh, I hate ironing, too! I actually bought an iron a few weeks ago though....but get this: there were two irons for sale, one which cost $20 and one which cost $90. A $90 iron! And guess which one I bought, because the price label tags were switched on the shelf. That will teach me to take note of the model number before I purchase.

Anyway, I returned it later and got my $90 back. But I still haven't bought another one.

It still floors me. $90! For an iron!

[misschris]

hahaha we just stayed in an apartment like this here in France over the holidays. The people had actually saved and arranged rubberbands on a hook in the kitchen cupboard,-- you know "just in case." I did the same thing you did, freaked and left everything in perfect order just in case we ever need to stay there again. I was stressed the whole time we were there though because it just ain't natural to be that neat!

[misschris]

hahaha we just stayed in an apartment like this here in France over the holidays. The people had actually saved and arranged rubberbands on a hook in the kitchen cupboard,-- you know "just in case." I did the same thing you did, freaked and left everything in perfect order just in case we ever need to stay there again. I was stressed the whole time we were there though because it just ain't natural to be that neat!