Sandra Ashenford reflects on the ups and downs of her week

THE CASE of the passport in the washing machine sparked a lively debate among our acquaintances last week – just who should be responsible for checking the pockets before clothes go in the wash?

Son-in-law number three’s passport isn’t looking too good following its spin cycle experience but daughter number three says it’s his own fault.

True, she washed the jeans with the passport in the pocket, but should he not have checked his own clothes before committing them to the laundry basket?

In the ensuing Facebook discussion, plenty of people shared her point of view. But there were several who sided with her other half.

I do all the washing in our household, and I generally give pockets a bit of a pat down, usually in the hope of finding some cash.

But I refuse to accept responsibility for anything that gets mangled because I missed it.

People in the past never used to have these problems.

Well, they didn’t have inbuilt pockets for a start.

During the 17th to the 19th centuries, women wore detachable pockets, like small bags, tied by a ribbon around their waist, and worn between the layers of petticoats and outer skirt.

There is even a nursery rhyme about them: Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it; Not a penny was there in it, Just the ribbon round it.

The pockets were accessible through neatly concealed slits in the clothing, and could contain all manner of things, including thimbles and combs, coins and sweets and any other small precious items useful to have close to hand.

Even so, pickpockets were very adept at stealing pockets, often by cutting the ribbons holding them in place.

When it came to doing the laundry, it wasn’t a case of throwing everything into the washing machine and hoping for the best.

Everything had to be carefully sorted, and then the dirty clothes would be put into a big tub of hot water and pounded with a stick.

The Victorians used dolly tubs and wooden wash dollies to swish the washing clean, which must have been back-breaking work.

Later, the more lightweight copper posser was developed to replace the wash dolly.

Either way, chances of accidentally pounding your passport to a soggy pulp were very small indeed.