Another dish-washing question

[vilakins]

I should have added this to the last post, sorry, but I thought of it a bit late.

This is for people from the UK. Why do you wash dishes in a plastic bowl in the sink rather than directly in the sink? Is it to save water, to keep the sink clean, to be able to toss debris over the side, to protect dishes from hard metal, or for some other reason?

Just so people know my dish-washing habits, I rinse dishes to get loose food off and put them in the dishwasher. I wash delicate glassware (only used for dinner parties or special occasions) in the sink with a microfibre cloth, and pots and pans with a brush which goes through the dishwasher when it needs it. I dry any hand-washed dishes with a tea towel, and no, I don't know why it's called that. "Dish towel", as cited by an American, makes more sense.

The only reason I'm asking about dish washing is because of seeing so many knitted dish cloths on a knitting site and community. It's not normally a subject that exerts any fascination. :-P

Comments

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

And I would have thought it would be related to saving water during the war (the time when married couples were encouraged to bathe together in a quarter of an inch of tepid fluid that you have ideally saved from something else).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have thought England was ever short of water, except for that big drought in the 70s. We were exhorted not to shower every second or third day, not to water the garden or wash the car, and to wash veges in a bowl during our last draught, but most people reverted to their old habits when the rain came back. It was a lovely winter. This one is the usual sodden type.

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

Honest, it really was. It was an energy saving measure. Plus, huge amounts of water were consumed by war production.

http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist/BHC_RTV/1942/11/19/BGU408280039/?s=*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful, especially the cat! I hadn't thought of the power to heat it (duh), and didn't realise how much was used in war production.