'Dressing' a house to help it sell.....

[DJC]

Been getting the for years, about one a month lately. I don't even open them, straight in the recycling bucket.

[Mary Fisher]

OK, I grant you that there might be somepeople with lives I can't relate to!

Of course.But it's what they store which is odd. I mean, where do they keep their spares for all the props they show? How many pairs of knickers do you need for a normal life? Where are last week's magazines (to say nothing of last month's)? How about the tools left lying around by whoever (men, usually)? What about sewing kits - needles, threads, cut off trouser bottoms against the day for patching? Spinning wheels, the stuff which piles up against computers, photograph albums, jigsaw puzzles, packs of printing paper ...

I'll stop there because the list would be too long but in our lives we've never been able to be as tidy as the catalogue shows. Yes, they show children on sofas with the odd toy lying around but what about five kids' worth of Lego scattered everywhere? Don't say that they provide chests for all that stuff because the amount of Lego even one child can accumulate spreads over at least two rooms' floors as well as in beds and kitchens and up noses and... well ... it never shows in the book. even without all the other stuff kids accumulate.

I don't know anyone who lives like Ikea folk. Even our tidiest 'children' with their children aren't Ikea folk.

But there might, somewhere, be some.

I don't really want to know poeople with such lives, I'll say no more :-)

Mary

[S Viemeister]

My sister is incredibly tidy.

[Mary Fisher]

So is my mother.

But in my experience tidy people don't have much to keep tidy ...

You can go right off some people :-)

Mary

[S Viemeister]

Well, she does quite regularly chuck stuff out. (We've just put up a new shed in the garden, for storage purposes.)

Sheila

[Mary Fisher]

LOL! Over the years we've put up three and a wing on one! To say nothing of flooring the loft.

When the five children were at home we were short of room. Now they've all gone we have even less room ... it doesn't make sense ... And we DO throw stuff out but the things we're using all the time seem to spread. Especially his.

Mary

[S Viemeister]

That's because we DO stuff. Which requires tools. And materials. And books.

Hence the extra shed.

Sheila

[timegoesby]

If they visit, don't speak to them, even if you don't have a TV. Tell them to get off your property and slam the door on them. If they still stand at the front door pour a bucket of water on them from the upper windows. They have no right to enter your house. They are just snoopers and no one likes a snooper, so treat them accordingly then they might go out and get a proper job.

[Mary Fisher]

Exactly my point. The Ikea sets aren't real for most people.

Mary

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Even? Or are you just trying to avoid paying?

And add assault to any other charges?

I think you might want to check up on that.

Of course if you don't have a TV, that may be so. But very very few don't

- they just want to avoid paying for the service, same as with so many other things.

[S Viemeister]

You must lead a sheltered life! There seem to be many more people who simply sit and watch television, rather than actually doing anything constructive (or interesting). When we had our needlework shop, I actually had people coming in to have _buttons_ sewn on! Fully grown adult granny-people, who truly had NO idea how to do any of the most basic tasks. It's fortunate for them that frozen dinners come in packets with detailed directions.

Sheila

[Matt]

How do you fill the bucket Dribble? Last we heard the whole council estate had been isolated due to your plumbing.

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , Mary Fisher writes

Many many more than you can imagine

[Rembrandt Kuipers]

If they treat me with courtesy and act in a professional matter I am quite happy to co-operate with them. They are doing their (improper?) job, and I can understand why the job needs to be done.

I disagree with TV licensing in general (for different reasons). However they give me an opt out ability and I will take it and act reasonably.

Rem

[Mary Fisher]

Good response to an irresponsible post, Dave.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Well, I lead anything BUT a sheltered life but I honestly don't know anyone except my mother who do that. Perhaps I'm very fortunate in my friends and family, they're all interesting and constructive.

Sad, innit! I admit that in this house Spouse does all the machine sewing on his posh Bernina. I prefer hand sewing and do lot of it while listening to a play. That, apart from at the table for meals and the computer, is the only time I sit down.

I bow to your greater experience

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

That must be how the world is divided. There are two sorts of people: those who live in Ikea sets and real people. The ratio is irrelevant except to Ikea :-)

Mary

[S Viemeister]

My mother didn't believe me, either - she grew up in a household full of useful, active people, snd then married my father - who, if a tool to suit a particular task didn't exist, would design and make one. She assumed everyone was as accomplished as she and her family, and it was quite a shock for her when she met the sort of people who require directions on a tin of peas, and who would never buy fresh vegetables, because they don't come with labels. (It always amazed me, that they could actually _read_ the labels.)

Truly, and sadly, there seem to be more of them, than there are of us.

Sheila

[Huge]

A friend of my wife says, quite proudly; "I don't cook. I heat."

And the ratio is steadily getting worse.

[Mary Fisher]

No -I was sayng that I know nothing about pre-prepared foods!

That's what happens here.

Yes, I wondered about that ...

Perhaps they spend all the time we spend growing, preparing, cooking and enjoying food keeping their houses tidy :-) I know which I'd rather do.

One day I'm going to come your way ...

Mary