Agreed. If only I could slip exhaustedly into beautifully laundered fresh bedlinen without being used as a feline trampoline.


The final verdict of the inquest was that he was cleaned to death!

Whilst I'm not suggesting that this applies to anyone here, too much cleaning can be obsessive and might be an indicator of OCD. A woman my brother used to work with had to get up at 5am, if the family were going out for the day, to clean the whole house before they left. She clearly had OCD problems although I don't know whether the term was prevalent in those days. I'm towards the more relaxed end of the tidy-messy spectrum My PC, in contrast, is usually immaculately tidy.

I used to piss in our coal fire. How many kids do that now? 

I was a more-or-less country child, Anty, and we used to eat young hawthorn leaves, calling them "bread and cheese". We sucked the nectar from clover flowers. I remember trying hawthorn berries, rosehips and rowan berries, and not being impressed. Rosehips have hairy seeds, and rowan berries are sour. Sorrel leaves are sour, too, but in a delicious way. We knew what was poisonous - laburnum pods do make good dolls' peapods though!

Housework - I think both extremes have a mental problem of some sort. I agree with Milly that the people on "How Clean is Your House" are extraordinary, and I'm sure most of them have a big problem. I wouldn't believe they were real, except I know someone a bit like them - a highly intelligent, very musical (but fat!) woman, who didn't do anything about her house until she found a rat in the kitchen  .

When I was a District Nurse, about a hundred years ago, I learned just how filthy some people's houses are....so however messy mine is, it never worries me a bit!

I used to have a cleaner for 2 hrs a week, but she's left me now, so the place has been fairly well untouched for about 3 months....oh dear!
I like it when it's all done, but, if I have to do it, it puts me into such a foul mood I cant enjoy the results!!!

Next week I'm going to advertise for wonderperson to come & do it.


I usually detest NY eve, but this year I'm feeling more positive than ever before....my divorce should arrive any day, today I've drawn out the cheque for £35K to pay off the suicidal maniac....my new man has exchanged contracts on his house sale, so with any luck he'll have bought my ex's half of my place within the month, and we can get on with enjoying life !!!

2008 - Bring it on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were told what we could eat and instructed not to eat anything unless we were told it was OK.   We didn't always follow instructions - I remember acorns and crab apples tasted particularly vile - but I don't remember anyone eating anything seriously poisonous.  Nobody would touch toadstools, I remember.  Even in urban areas we found blackberries growing wild and damsons could be had from the hedgerows not far out of town.  We brought back bags full of these for pies and jam.  Rougher children used to shoot pigeons and it was rumoured they ate them.  Eating birds that lived on Birkenhead docks must have secured for these people a good portion of the ton of muck each of us is supposed to eat before we die; but, again, we never actually heard of anyone getting food poisoning. Maybe the dockland mickeys were just too tough to get bird flu!