Who needs a weather station when you’ve got a washing line? There can be fewer more accurate thermometers than the rush of morning air as you step outside with the washing basket first thing. The ground is itself the most accurate rain gauge; just now we need wellies to negotiate the sodden back garden, in summer we can hang out the washing in bare feet. Anemometers, with their twirling cups, are used by professionals to measure wind speed and direction, but a bed sheet will give you the same information, along with the satisfying crack and dance of large linen sailing in the wind. Meteorologists use hygrometers to calculate humidity – a row of woolly socks can do the same thing; just reach up and feel them at regular intervals. Washing lines also serve as barometers; if you&r