It's worth a try

If you go in for having people to stay and someone has to wear respectable shirts at least from time to time, one thing which mounts up in vast unseemly heaps is ironing. The good Olga hasn’t really been well since the new year, the Professor and I seem to be being ill alternately, and we have no time --  having been laid low for a fortnight, I am now frantically trying to catch up with what should have been done and the Prof is in no better case. I have take a decisive step in this matter, having had houseguests over the weekend which was somehow the last straw -- suffice it to say that, though the individuals in question were perfect dears, I’d got ironed sheets and duvet onto their cosy bed about forty minutes before they arrived. I have bought an infernal machine. It heats up in less than a minute, and jets hot steam wherever you want it jetted. Basically, you stroke the steam-breathing magic dragon over your shirt, and it goes all smooth, even the difficult crevices which, when ironing, take ages. The main problem identified thus far is that you have to pull the shirt smooth, then direct the head over the surface, so if it’s all wrinkly at the bottom hem you can burn yourself with some ease. It’s not a device which would be sensible in a house blest with young children, that’s for sure. But, on my third go, I found I could get a respectable shirt with all its yokes, gussets, collars and God knows what, from creased to wearable in three minutes flat. We will need to buy a suitable laundry rack (what the infernal machine comes with is a sort of clotheshanger) but I think it should be just as good with duvet covers and things. Here's hoping it's been a good idea.