I recently got round to ordering a Rotaire Dryline, a cunning gadget that goes on top of a rotary airer protecting drying clothes from rain so that outside drying can be done in almost all weathers. I saw the system at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales about three years ago and have been intending to invest in ever since. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find clear instructions on what dimension I was meant to measure on the website and guessed wrong; as soon as the cover turned up, the printed instructions revealed my mistake.

I’m sure I could have sent it back but I remembered that my parents had a smaller rotary line and it is the size I ordered for – measure between two extended arms along the longest run of line rather than along the arm itself. We’ve now installed it there and are watching to see how it does in the rain predicted for tomorrow. Installation required a little ingenuity as, although their line looked to have a removable cap, it turned out to be fixed, but I think I’ve got that solved.

Hopefully that will now open up all season drying for them and, when I’m back, I’ll look at getting a slightly larger one for our own line.