Sunday, July 30, 2006

It's all in the preparation

We were expecting friends to visit yesterday, which was nice. We don't get many visitors up here! However, when they rang to arrange a time, they said, "Oh, it'll be between 3 and 4pm, we'll ring again and give you an hour warning."

They lied.

Having thought I had most of the day to prepare and it being a hot day, I decided to stay in my jim-jams and do a bit of ironing first, my usual start to a weekend, drooling over, sorry, watching James Martin on Saturday Kitchen. Then, after pizza for lunch, I would do a quick clean.

So, imagine my horror when, 1.30pm the phone rings and said visitors give us a twenty minute warning.

AAARRRRGH!!

Didn't even have time to swear as I sprinted upstairs to perform a miracle, (go on, picture it!) returning in twenty minutes to find the visitors already ensconced on my settee. I just calmly sat down and continued drinking my, now slightly tepid, cup of tea. Polite conversation ensued and a fine time was had by all.

As luck would have it, it's only a few days since my parents visited so the house was relitively clean, (as it can be with four children and a herd of their friends) and soon after they'd left, I had a massive urge to tidy the shelves in the lounge, which are now immaculate, so that saved time.

Went into shock on their departure though, had to hit the V&O, followed by a nice bottle of Chianti with a superb homemade lasagne, (even if I do say so myself) followed by a smashing Chateau Neuf du Pape. Far too much and very naughty, but luckily, doesn't appear to have had any nasty side effects.

Maybe lucky isn't the right word. Maybe I need more blood and less alcohol coursing through my veins on a regular basis...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ouch!!! That's really not very friendly. Still, lovely to see people, and I'll bet they really don't care whether or not the house looks clean and tidy.

I like the sound of your self-medication afterwards - after all, shock can be nasty - you can't be too careful...

Louise said...

Sweet tea definately doesn't do it for me!

Anonymous said...

OK. Here's a question. House is its usual mess and you've 20 minutes warning that visitors are about to arrive (I get very worried when there's a knock at the door and I've NO warning!!). What do you clean?

For me it's toilet followed by bathroom, followed by kitchen if there is time - sink area first, then oven hob. I also have to close our bedroom door (in case visitors go upstairs to loo and catch sight of rubbish tip therein!

Louise said...

I'm with you in the toilet and bathroom, with the marigolds on, but NOONE is allowed in my kitchen without an invitation, so I'll quickly throw a hoover round the lounge, hall and p'raps make the diningroom floor less crunchy underfoot...
And I shut the bedroom doors too!