On doing laundry

It always amazes me how such a basic household function can vary so much in different countries, even in different households in the same country. (My mother is usually appalled at the way I wash my laundry, in her opinion I don't sort it correctly and I don't use the right program not to mention the amount of laundry I put in one load).
So washing laundry can be a science in itself. I remember the first time I was going to do laundry when I was staying as an exchange student with „my family in Virginia“. Here I was, staring at the washing-machine which looked unlike any I had seen so far. To start with, it was a top loader. (In Germany most people use front loaders.) Well I got that one figured out right away! And putting in the laundry wasn't much of a problem either. But then it got tricky! Where did the soap go? After I figured that one out, there was the next hurdle: Setting the temperature! There were no degrees just a setting for cold/cold, warm/cold and warm/warm. I set it on the one that looked the least likely to damage anything:cold/cold, and waited. Nothing happened! I had to figure out yet another thing: how to turn the whole thing on. I had no idea. After careful consideration and some poking at various buttons I finally found the solution: you had to pull on the temperature button thingie... Go figure, not push but pull, hmm, ingenious!
So yesterday I washed my first load of laundry in Zanzibar. And yes, it is newsworthy. My host-family has a very basic washing machine and it took some explaining (in Swahili mind you) for me to figure it out. First you hook it up to the faucet with a hose (the normal garden variety), then you fill the washing drum up with water, adding soap in the process. You dump in your laundry (unsorted as the water is cold and it's unlikely that all your underwear will turn pink by mixing it with your red socks). Then you turn the whole thing on, which is achieved by setting the timer. After the timer has run out you drain the whole thing, which you do by turning yet another button that apparently opens some kind of valve since the water now starts gushing out another hose that is attached to the back of the machine. Then you take out the laundry and put it in another drum next to the one you washed it in, you turn yet another button and voilà: it spins. After that is done you repeat the whole process sans soap to rinse out the laundry. And now you have freshly laundered clothes that you just have to carry up to the rooftop where you hang it to dry in the slight sea breeze coming in from the ocean....

As for the piece of Antiquarian knowledge of the day:
In Roman times human urine (as a source of ammonium) was used to whiten clothes. Slaves were standing ankle deep in troughs with urine working as fullers. Urine got so important that is was even taxed.