Frugal clothes drying - the roof terrace clothesline

One of the things which caused me to fall in love with this flat is the outside roof terrace space, although primarily I was thinking of the gardening and bbq prospects...

Here in Europe I've lived in various temporary accomodation over the past six plus years, or visited the places of colleagues. As most have been flats and not houses and most have been older places, seeing a clothes dryer has been a rare sight. My first UK company provided place had a combination washer/dryer, but it didn't dry so well...

I had one place in Germany with a dryer-it was in the shared cellar and I was on the top floor so washing clothes and then trekking down to put them into the dryer and then remembering to get them before they sat too long and wrinkled was a hassle. Although I couldn't complain--my two colleagues in company provided housing had shared dryers; one had allocated days/times in which it could be used, the other shared with four other washing machines so one had to move their clothes quickly from this one dryer lest someone either complain or take it upon themselves to fold your clothes.

My new place came with the existing washing machine included (in the kitchen). I like having the washing machine here in the flat as opposed to the German option of in the shared cellar. It is a perfectly fine machine which should last a few more years, but it is a washing machine only, not a combination washer/dryer. (I don't have a dishwasher either, but that is a separate post!) I must say, I do like the UK standard of white goods staying in the flat, as opposed to the German norm where they tend to move with you.

As I moved into the new place and was looking at the space, I pondered whether or not a clothesline would possibly work, mainly because I was spacing out my outlay of cash (the trashpicked German drying rack didn't make the move), as well as that I figured that line drying outside would allow the clothes to dry faster.

I gave it a spin on the corner of the back terrace, the one which gets afternoon and evening sun:

Here is the view from that corner. The neighbors below have a great outside area which they rarely use:

This direction is actually stores: two hair salons, a dentist, a pizza place, a pet store, etc, so I don't feel that I'm influencing the view as this back space is never used.

While standing in the corner, here is the view of the rest of the terrace (before the garden was established):

The verdict after 1,5 months:

-so far so good, but it's summertime. I like the freshness of clothes drying outside, and I do get a good breeze up here, so I think in general they dry faster than they would inside.

-I'm definitely saving any electricity costs associated with a dryer, which is a good thing, as well as any envirnomental costs, nevermind the cost of the machine itself.

The negatives?

-It is the UK, so it tends to rain a lot, and often unexpectedly. So my clothes could dry while I'm in the office during the day but by the time I get home and there's a sudden rainfall I'm stuck to give them time to dry again. Doing the one set of bedding involves excessive planning and weather watching. ;-)

Would I change to a washer/dryer if I could once this washer wears out?

Eh, maybe. I wasn't so impressed with the only UK washer/dryer I used, and air drying seems to be more gentle on my clothes and more a habit now, (similar to how having a dryer is a standard habit in the US).