h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, yes, she usually orders me to...

Re men tidying, I'm quite lucky in that Lainey doesn't mind doing the jobs I really hate, and vice versa. Most of our housework is naturally divided along those lines, and we even fill in the bits of the big jobs that the other would rather not do. So I'm happy to clean the whole kitchen top to bottom, as long as she mops the floor. She'll do the washing and put everything away, as long as I hang and pair up the socks.

And while I know this is going to sound like a throwback to a more chauvinistic era, she does most of the housework because I pay the rent

I'm on me tod, therefore I LOVE DUST

"Dust is furniture's natural preservative'.

It is difficult for me to comment here, for personal reasons, although I have been following the thread...

I would say, IMOH, even in relationships, there must be an equal split of everything, whether it be chores, free time, internet use etc. and, unless there are exceptional grounds for one person doing something, chores should be shared equally, irrespective of ability. Occasions where exemptions may occur are instances such as the time my Mum lived with me for 16 months... she could do what she liked, except the ironing . It meant I couldn't find anything, as she tidied up, but my shirts were how I wanted them.

It also may partially, but not entirely, explain why I am single. I would expect to cook, vacuum, clean etc. although maybe not to my spouse's standard. If chores are shared, social time is doubled... which is why singletons are either time-poor, or untidy... I think!

Over to you!!!

So much for not saying anything.

I'm off before I dig an even deeper hole.

MMF

I alphabetize my spices too!

My pantry used to be alphabetical, too, but now it's not. I've just sorted it by dry/canned/baking stuff.

I do NOT love dust. My place can get dusty very quickly- I can dust on Saturday and by Monday morning it looks like it hasn't been dusted for a month.

proven fact! after dust gets to 3ins deep, it doesn't attract anymore due to no static attraction

Coming in from the backlog here (so many posts in one night, since I last logged on!) ....

Putting things away out of the dishwasher. and Why can't they remember where things go? Why do they bother to empty the dishwasher if they're going to distribute everything over the worktops and leave it there to get dirty again?

Finding things and remembering where they go. My men have explained to me that even an explicit description of which shelf and which corner of which shelf to look is no good, if the object is not moving ("We are the "Hunters" not the "Gatherers". If it's not moving, we don't see it!")

I put my spices in alphabetical order and if they're written in German, Turkish or French I put them in the alphabetical order of the English translation. However, this doesn't make for the artistic Spice Manhattan that Mala achieves.

I keep the ones I use for baking in a different place from the ones I use for cooking, but with most spices that's rather difficult when it comes to, say, ground coriander or cardamom.

Oh no - did someone mention pairing up socks? Don't start me on that one. Can't they tell the difference between a plain ribbed top and one that is doubled over and sewn down?

Yeah, Psychocandy, we have dust like that, too. I tried to start a worldwide hootoo experiment once, because I had a theory that dirt and dust were different everywhere. (Well, of course they are, but I thought it would have been as interesting as comparing the weather all over the world which is regularly done here. People must have thought it as perverse as examining one's navel lint) For example: My mother dusts her surfaces - hall table, coffee table, top of TV, once a week. They hardly need it even after a week of dust has settled on them. Mine need doing every day, and then the duster has a thick grey line of dust along the leading edge. Not to mention mirrors and window sills!

I live in Jakarta and have married into a vast extended family. Since Jakarta is the centre of everything - business, politics, industry - in Indonesia, there is always somebody passing through. At any given moment I'll have - seriously - a half dozen or more people staying here. In many instances I've never even heard of the houseguests.

And of course, virtually everyone I know all over the world decides at one point or another to visit Bali, and that often entails a quick two or three days in Jakarta so they can say they've been to Java as well; welcome to my home.

Right now I just realised that I have a brother-in-law who's been staying here for about a year and a half while he goes to university...so that's who the fellow is! Nice guy, I like him.

And tomorrow the old lady who's been here for a little less than a month is apparently going to have a 78th birthday party; seems I'm hosting it. Seems she's my mother in-law's great aunt or something. 50 or more people expected and the maids are coming back from Id al Fithri holidays early just to barbeque the fish and shrimp while I was asked to contribute about 5 gallons of Gazpacho. (Never heard of on Java before, but has since become a virtual obsession since I tried it out...Mexican-Indonesian fusion cuisine).

What can I say...go with the flow, don't sweat about a few magazines or books lying around; the people are more interested in having a roof and your company. Gotta go now, I see a six year old climbing a lime tree to help me with my contribution...and his sister's halfway up the mango tree!

TTFN!

to add to my last post- post86
90 odd% of household "dust" is human skin, we shed about 40/50 thousand cells per day and a full layer about every 3/4 weeks

just another bit of useless information

Useless and probably wrong.

You might be right about housedust being made up largely of discarded human skin cells...I've heard that too.

But surely 40 - 50 thousand cells times 28 days wouldn't cover your great toe, much less an entire body!

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Biology-664/2008/8/Human-Skin-Shedding.htm

quite a weight over a year

eeeeuuuuuwww!

I have so enjoyed this conversation. I don't feel nearly as neurotic as my other half makes me feel

I thought you might like this. It is a poem by a lady called Ann Verity, and I think I shall print it out and put it on the wall:

Dust If You Must

Dust if you must,
But wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture
Bake a cake
Write a letter or
Plant a seed
Ponder the difference
Between want and need.

Dust if you must
But the world's out there
The sun in your eyes
The wind in your hair
The flurry of snow
A shower of rain
This day will not come round again.

Dust if you must
But there's not much time
With rivers to swim
and mountains to climb
Music to hear and books to read
Friends to cherish
A life to lead.

Dust if you must
But bear in mind
Old age will come
and it's not kind
and when you go
as go you must
You yourself will make more dust.

Websailor

What a great poem. Thanks for sharing, Webbie.

I must admit I am now unsure as to the author of that poem, as I have now found it on this site too, so perhaps the writer I found just copied it, as it was in a newsletter written by people with problems.

http://www.poeticexpressions.co.uk/poems/Dust%20if%20you%20must.htm

Along with other inspirational poems from the Marie Curie Cancer site. I am sure whoever wrote it, would want to share it. It certainly made me feel a whole lot better

Websailor

ashes to ashes
dust to dust
if the women won't get you
the whisky must

Webbie


there's only one thing worse than being baldand that's being bald and having dandruff










ps: dandruff is just skin flakes same as rest of the body

Quentin Crisp (The Naked Civil Servant) says:

"After four years you don't notice the dust"

Didn't he also say there's no point cleaning and washing, because all you're doing is moving the dirt around?

I believe he did say that!