In The Wash

I think that the best structure in all Menerbes is the old wash house, which still works. In the days before electricity was connected to towns, and every house had its own Kelvinator churning and sudsing away, most towns built a communal wash house. Most of these had three separate concrete troughs. There would be a constant stream of water flowing into the first trough, then the overflow from that flowing into a lower trough, and the overflow from that flowing into a lowest trough. Women would suds up and wash their clothes in the lowest trough, then move up the next trough for a first rinse, then up to the top trough for a last rinse. These wash houses made it easier for families to have clean clothes, so had real health and convenience benefits. They also had real social benefits in that they allowed women to socialize, gossip, and pass on important news.
When I was walking around the French countryside thirty years ago and passed through towns I would still occasionally see a couple of old women, usually dressed in black, standing beside the wash house and chatting away. The saddest sight I saw was in one town where a bent old widow in black was just standing silently and alone waiting for friends who could never come again.
Most of the washouses have now disappeared from towns. Some have been turned into display beds for red geraniums, but most have been turned off, or contains green water and rubbish. Sad.
Chris