I've never understood the reason why dish washers have become so ubiquitous in Australian homes. Maybe I should clarify that I'm looking at this situation from the point of view of an elderly pensioner who lives in a two-person household. I understand that this is not the norm but I suspect that there are fewer large households than there used to be as I suspect that people are deciding to have fewer children than was once the case. Or maybe contraception is better.
But what has this to do with dishwashers? Even though there are just two of us in this household; even though we eat simple meals, even though we have lived in this unit in Longford for five years and have never cooked a roast dinner here, even though our normal meal is pre-prepared in another kitchen and re-heated in ours, we still have a dishwasher.
I had my cereal this morning, put my slice off thick-cut fruit loaf in the toaster and reached for a knife to butter it. The knife drawer was empty, because all the knives were in the dishwasher waiting for it to look full enough that we could switch it on. Madness! I extracted a single knife, rinsed it under the hot tap and buttered my toast ... and then put the knife back in dishwasher!
From a labour-intensive point of view, a dishwasher makes no sense. A time and motion study would need to note that using a dishwasher involves loading it, unloading it and putting the washed items away. All of that involves bending because the dishwasher sits on the floor. Compare that with the energy needed to wash up today's breakfast dishes in the old-fashioned way. Half a sink of hot water from the tap, a squirt of dishwashing liquid, swill around 2 teaspoons, 2 cornflake spoons, 2 bowls, a knife and a plate, and leave them to drain. It's a no-brainer.
But, I'll never convince Marilyn.
