Modern Conveniences

My grandmother used to have an old wringer-washer machine in her basement. It was a large porcelain number with a series of roll bars at the top. You washed your clothes in the tub and then put them through the rollers to remove as much of the water as possible. Then you hung your clothes outside to dry (in the summer) or in the basement (in the winter).

This lovely appliance (whatever it is) lives in our basement.

The advent of the modern washing machine must have been nirvana.

I was hanging in my kitchen this morning, waiting for my breakfast to emerge from the microwave, and nodding in appreciation to my appliances. But not the dishwasher.

Our dishwater came with the house. We were warned by the prior owners not to use it, and we haven't. It's a built-in number, so removing it would leave a gap-toothed space between our cupboards. And, for whatever reason, we've never purchased a new one. Maybe because it's only been the three of us, and it takes a couple of days to accumulate enough to justify running the thing. Also, I'm not sure how much labor it saves. You still have to rinse the dishes and put them in, then take them out and put them away. Mr. Ginley, who is primary dishwasher, has wondered aloud now and then if a dishwasher might not be nice. But we've never gotten beyond that point.

Of course, we do have the other standard modern conveniences. Although, I do question how labor-saving some of them really are.

The washer and dryer, definitely. The refrigerator, undoubtedly. The stove, sure. But the jury is out on the microwave. Sure, it cooks things lickety split, but I still do most of my cooking in a conventional oven. It's nice to wave butter to melt it or nuke leftovers, and it saves time in clean-up by using one dish and no pot. Still, if someone said I could have just one appliance in my kitchen, the microwave would not be it.

It's also occurred to me that we haven't progressed all that far with time-saving technology. We have cell phones that are certainly convenient, but we spend a hell of a lot more time on them than our parents did on their phones. And a good chunk of that time is not spent actually talking. To real, live people.

And, yes, we have computers and modern office equipment. I will concede they've certainly been helpful in the workplace. I was never a fan of typewriters when it came to correction fluid, and carbon paper was nasty stuff. But the expectations have also changed. Back in the day, for example, advertising layouts were done by hand, and folks had to visualize how the completed project would look. Now, a host of critics can change colors and layouts and copy, over and over and over, right down to the wire.

So the question becomes, have we saved any labor or merely displaced it?

Gadgets can be a wonderful thing. And I enjoy my Kindle as much as anyone. But there are days when I ponder how we would get by if we couldn't be on the grid. It's easier to imagine this during power outages, but it's harder to fathom how we'd manage without cell phones and the internet.

I mean, how would I publish this blog? Now that would be tragic.  ;)