How Clean is your House?

Today

I was watching the first few minutes of "How Clean is your House?" the other day. In a modern easy-to-clean house with the latest Dyson in the corner, a young couple were living in a dismal and dirty muddle. Given how easy being clean is these days, it always fascinates me how some folk simply don't know how to get started. Perhaps they like it that way or simply don't notice. I think it was Quentin Crisp who said that you stop noticing the dust after the first 2 years.

I sometimes wonder if it's a symptom of a deeper inability to cope but am coming to the view that it's just laziness and lack of organisation.

In My Day

Daddy used to tell us about his 2nd wife who was clearly too posh to wash. Apparently she ignored dirt of every variety. This was borne out when I met in 1977 for the first time 2 of her Canadian grandchildren who'd been sent over to spend a few weeks of the Summer with her. When their mother arrived they were desperate "There's cat poo ingrained in the carpets," they told her "and fleas everywhere."

As part of her upbringing, Mamma went to a "household" school. This was where girls of a good middle class background went to learn how to manage a household. As that was in 1933 when Hitler came to power, signalling the end of her education in consequence, it was a good thing that she could manage a house.

She was able to get work as nanny/housekeeper and told us many tales.

In England during the war, she did emergency fostering. Many a forlorn child was brought to her for care. She told us of one baby, brought in the middle of the night; mother's whereabouts unknown. Mamma asked no questions and popped the baby into a cot.

In the morning she went to attend to it - it was covered on sores. Mamma was aghast - what could be wrong? My more savvy father said "they're bed bugs and the baby must have brought them here." He proceeded to rip up the carpet and blowtorch skirting boards and burn the cot.

It says something about Mamma that she calmly cleaned and deloused Daddy's children by his 2nd wife when they were unceremoniously dumped on the doorstep; even making a little nightie for my 8 year old 1/2 sister as she was being bathed.

I suppose housework is repetitive; they do say that that the trouble is, you do it and then 6 months later you have to do it all again.