The Saga of the Traveling Pants
A Portuguese Laundry Story
I won’t lie. I like my conveniences. I like the convenience of taking a short walk from my condo down to the beach. I like the convenience of the bus dropping us off at the bottom of our street. I like the convenience of being able to walk to the local café for a cappuccino and a sweet. I like the convenience of ordering groceries online and having them delivered to my door. And I like (love!) the convenience of having a weekly laundry service.
Every Thursday, the dirty laundry is picked up and the washed laundry is delivered to us. The bath towels are soft and neatly folded. Clothes are ironed and on hangers. Even the bed sheets come back pressed and folded.
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Before we moved to Portugal, other than learning the language, the other thing I stressed about was laundry. I had heard that in Portugal, most people had a washing machine (usually found in the kitchen – I’m still not excited about that part), but most did not have a clothes dryer. I stressed about not having a dryer in Portugal. What would I do? I have a lot of ‘wash-and-wear’ types of clothing but not everything does well if it’s not put in a dryer.
But…why?
Now, I could purchase a clothes dryer here, but I really don’t have a convenient place to put it as our apartment is not set up for that kind of appliance. I’m grateful that in our kitchen, the washing machine is behind a cabinet door, so you don’t see it. But there’s really no room for a dryer. Our balcony off the kitchen is too small and our veranda off the living room is enclosed and more like a family room (and it also sometimes serves as my writing room). The bathrooms are too small to fit in an appliance. So, I am currently dryer-less which is okay for now since I have my weekly laundry service.
Being the unworldly traveler that I am, I wondered why people wouldn’t just invest in a clothes dryer and instead prefer to hang their laundry outside on lines to dry.
It turns out there are a lot of reasons why many folks – not just in Portugal but in most of Europe - don’t own clothes dryers. Many people don’t earn a lot of money, and clothes dryers can be an unnecessary expense especially if you’re on a tight budget. Also, there’s the cost of energy which can be high in many parts of Europe. Others may argue that the culture in Europe is and always has been to dry clothes the ‘old fashioned way’ because it’s a waste of energy resources to do so otherwise. I do respect that, but still…
Laundry, laundry everywhere.
No matter where you go in Portugal, there’s laundry hanging outside (whenever I see this, I often wonder about bird poop). Even in my apartment community, there’s outside laundry. Sometimes the laundry is on actual clothes lines if there’s space, or sometimes they’re hanging off a window or balcony on drying racks made specifically for that purpose.
You can see practically anything hanging out to dry if you look (and I have) – from sheets, blankets, and towels, to jeans, t-shirts, swimwear, pajamas, lingerie, baby clothes, and underwear. It’s all there – swaying in the breeze.
To clarify, I do a little bit of laundry here. I have purchased the standard folding wire drying rack that most Portuguese use and I use it for drying things like underwear, socks, and dish cloths, plus I brought my stand-up drying rack from the States for hanging up things to dry like t-shirts, and hanging-around-the-house clothes – things I really don’t care about if they look a bit wrinkled. I set up the racks either in the kitchen by the double doors, or on the veranda near the windows. I don’t like to hang the laundry off the windows or the balcony since I’m on the top floor and I don’t want anything flying off.
Which brings me to the saga of the traveling pants.
It’s windy here. I knew that before we moved to this coastal area. Sometimes the wind sounds as if there’s a hurricane out there. The trade-off is the nice ocean breezes that come through the windows, especially in the warmer months and the wind keeps insects away like mosquitoes. So, I’m mindful that whatever little clothing items I do launder, dries on the drying rack or the upright stand within the walls of the apartment. Nothing hangs outside even on the balcony railing.
And that’s what I did recently. I washed some items like a pair of my stay-at-home comfy pants, t-shirts, a pair of Paul’s lounge shorts, some underwear, and a few wrinkle-free tops. I placed the foldable wire drying rack in the veranda/writing room by the big open windows to catch the breeze and placed the upright rack by the open double doors in the kitchen overlooking the balcony.
Then I heard it from the opposite side of the house. Something crashing. It couldn’t be. But it was. The upright drying rack got caught up in a gust of wind and toppled halfway over the balcony railing. I panicked! I called for Paul to help me pull the rack back upright. But it was too late. We looked down and plopped on top of a neighbor’s extended awning four floors below were…my pants, Paul’s shorts…and (horrors!) my bra. All still on their hangers. I was mortified! My worst Portuguese laundry fears were coming true!
What to do?
I don’t really know many of my neighbors. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to but there’s a bit of a language barrier and most of our neighbors are away every day at work, so I don’t really ever see them. I have no idea who lives under that extended yellow awning. I don’t know if they live there full time or part time. Would they even see these clothing items? Ever?
Panic started to set in big time. We would have gone down to their door but what were we going to say (in English) to them if they were in fact, even at home. So, I decided to write a note using Deepl to translate it to into what I hoped was acceptable Portuguese and nothing too offensive. Paul went down to their front door and taped the note to it.
Honestly, I didn’t think we’d ever see our laundry again (I was also super embarrassed especially because of the bra). So, we avoided looking over the balcony in the kitchen and prepared dinner.
Sometime around 9:00 pm our doorbell rang. Paul answered it and there was this young woman holding our garments (she had placed my bra in a plastic bag for modesty). She said in broken English (how did she know we didn’t speak Portuguese?) that she lived in the condo just above the yellow awning and saw the clothes sitting on top of it and was able to retrieve them from her balcony window (using an extended pole I assume). She went to the units (there are two units per floor) on the third, fourth, and then to the fifth floor (where we are) to find out to whom the items belonged.
We were beyond grateful to this neighbor! Lots of “obrigada’s” and “obrigado’s” (thank-you) were proclaimed. Then, to avoid any further embarrassment, Paul quickly went downstairs to remove the note from the first-floor door. Whew!
The kindness of Portuguese people.
I’ve heard many stories from other expats about the kindness of the Portuguese people. I’ve experienced some of that kindness myself in the months I’ve lived in this country. But I began to wonder if this same thing had happened somewhere else, in another country, if anyone would have taken the time to find the owner of the traveling pants (and place a bra in a bag for modesty). I’d like to hope so but I’m not sure. This small act of kindness, however, somewhat restores my often-doubtful faith in the future of humanity.
I’ve learned a few lessons from this Portuguese laundry experience.
I need to make the effort to get to know my neighbors a little better.
I need to start conversing more in Portuguese (even if it’s not perfect).
I need to ‘pay it forward’ whenever I can.
Kindness can be contagious.
Many people are nice. I must be more open to seeing that and appreciating them.
I need to remind myself not to take my new life in Portugal for granted.
Also, to avoid any future embarrassment of airborne traveling pants or other garments, when drying laundry using a drying rack too close to the open kitchen doors, I must be more cognizant of those strong ocean breezes on the beautiful Portuguese coastline.
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Until next time…
Obrigada!
Carol.
Re: laundry. On windy days weigh down your drying rack base with a folding chair or brick or whatever works. The wind and sun will dry your clothes faster than your dryer, and they smell wonderful. I have a dryer but try to use it only if necessary, and yes, electric costs are exorbitant. In Lagos (where we lived 5 years) our electricity bill went from ca. €60.- p/m in summer months to almost €300 p/m in the winter. Ok, our heating is/was electric. We are retired and have plenty of time to hang up the wash, we both do it. Part of the living experience here. I have done a marvelous photographic Clotheslines in Portugal series. They are everywhere! I find breathing in the sun and the fresh air invigorating… pure pleasure…after spending my life in big, industrial.cities.
I love this post! How wonderful that your neighbor took the time to retrieve the clothes and find the owners! I was concerned about doing laundry in the winter in Lisbon due to the dampness and clouds, but it’s worked out so far (but, we’ve only been here a month). I do like hanging things out on the line and have watched, almost in awe, the speedy technique of the people across the street. Though I am waiting for (dreading?) the day that one of our items ends up in the pool of the next door AirBnB. 😳🤣 That’s probably why I put extra clothespins on the lighter items!