The joy of eccentric elderly parents and their routines.
Discussion
I lost my dad four years ago, he was a top bloke dead down to earth, no mither.
Mum is as sharp as a tack,
physically things are giving up but mentally shes switched on, probably moreso than most people i know
Trouble is she has developed strange ways of doing things
examples include
wrapping clothes or anything up in clear plastic bags, with a note inside describing what they are and an elastic band round.
even to the point that the notes have a description of what they are made of and if they are winter or summer
a visiting cat scratching the wall, so she nails a matt to the wall, over the wallpaper to stop it,
the same cat will only eat a specific brand of cat food, as well the local birds with the fatballs, so we are off trundling the shops for particular brands
does anyone else s parents have odd behavior routines?
Mum is as sharp as a tack,
physically things are giving up but mentally shes switched on, probably moreso than most people i know
Trouble is she has developed strange ways of doing things
examples include
wrapping clothes or anything up in clear plastic bags, with a note inside describing what they are and an elastic band round.
even to the point that the notes have a description of what they are made of and if they are winter or summer
a visiting cat scratching the wall, so she nails a matt to the wall, over the wallpaper to stop it,
the same cat will only eat a specific brand of cat food, as well the local birds with the fatballs, so we are off trundling the shops for particular brands
does anyone else s parents have odd behavior routines?
My in-laws have to do the weekly shop on a Friday afternoon, without fail, and always at the local Co-Op despite it being a small shop with prices higher than the nearby Tesco.
Something to do with them getting a discount due to being ex-staff of one of the independent corner shops that were bought out by the Co-Op many years ago. Discount still doesn't make the shop any cheaper than Tesco, just old habits etc.
Something to do with them getting a discount due to being ex-staff of one of the independent corner shops that were bought out by the Co-Op many years ago. Discount still doesn't make the shop any cheaper than Tesco, just old habits etc.
My Mother in law...
Refuses to use the kitchen work surfaces in case they get stained, therefore every available flat surface is covered with a piece of kitchen towel.
Is very careful with ashtrays - she smokes, and every night before she goes to bed she takes the ash tray, fills it with water (without emptying it) and places it in the sink.
Always turns the kettle/toaster off at the wall switch in case of fire - fridge/cooker/microwave are ignored.
(Edited to add that she's also sharp as a tack).
Refuses to use the kitchen work surfaces in case they get stained, therefore every available flat surface is covered with a piece of kitchen towel.
Is very careful with ashtrays - she smokes, and every night before she goes to bed she takes the ash tray, fills it with water (without emptying it) and places it in the sink.
Always turns the kettle/toaster off at the wall switch in case of fire - fridge/cooker/microwave are ignored.
(Edited to add that she's also sharp as a tack).
WelshChris said:
Always turns the kettle/toaster off at the wall switch in case of fire - fridge/cooker/microwave are ignored.
My Dad used to do this, plus the TV and anything else that is plugged in apart from the fridge/freezer. It drove me crackers when he came to stay as I'd start the morning making a cold cup of coffee (having left the kitchen and assumed it had boiled in the meantime) or stabbing at the TV remote trying to turn it on. I think it might just be one of those generational things where he didn't want to waste anything, even the smallest amount of electricity in place of the convenience and that he always lived in fear of the worst, like a kettle exploding in the night because it was still plugged in.
He's in a home now and ironically his TV is plugged in such that he can't reach the socket to turn it off. I don't think he is allowed a kettle though, but I couldn't find a socket to plug in his mobile to charge it up: Just as well because he would just switch it off to 'save the battery'.
My late Nan was a devil for switching off at the wall.
Everything, and I mean everything, was switched off at the wall "in case it catches fire"
The only thing she'd leave on was the fridge/freezer and I swear it kept her awake at night doing that.
She'd also monitor sell-by dates like a hawk. Even cans of beans/fruit would be checked to make sure they were in date.
She would chuck milk and other dairy products out a day before their use-by dates, as they were "on the turn"
When one would do shopping for her, her list would have notes on it such as "get one from the back with a long date"
She was also very old school with food. Meals each day were:
Breakfast 1 (usually a cup of tea on waking, sometimes with a biscuit)
Breakfast 2 (proper breakfast - i.e, cereal)
Elevenses (more tea, with cake or similar)
Dinner (hot meal, usually meat and veg, never anything 'foreign')
Tea (cup of tea again, with sandwiches)
Supper (no tea now, to avoid staying awake at night. Usually milk and biscuits)
If a meal was missed, it couldn't be re-scheduled to later in the day and dinner could never be eaten in the evening, no matter the occasion or situation.
Everything, and I mean everything, was switched off at the wall "in case it catches fire"
The only thing she'd leave on was the fridge/freezer and I swear it kept her awake at night doing that.
She'd also monitor sell-by dates like a hawk. Even cans of beans/fruit would be checked to make sure they were in date.
She would chuck milk and other dairy products out a day before their use-by dates, as they were "on the turn"
When one would do shopping for her, her list would have notes on it such as "get one from the back with a long date"
She was also very old school with food. Meals each day were:
Breakfast 1 (usually a cup of tea on waking, sometimes with a biscuit)
Breakfast 2 (proper breakfast - i.e, cereal)
Elevenses (more tea, with cake or similar)
Dinner (hot meal, usually meat and veg, never anything 'foreign')
Tea (cup of tea again, with sandwiches)
Supper (no tea now, to avoid staying awake at night. Usually milk and biscuits)
If a meal was missed, it couldn't be re-scheduled to later in the day and dinner could never be eaten in the evening, no matter the occasion or situation.
WelshChris said:
Is very careful with ashtrays - she smokes, and every night before she goes to bed she takes the ash tray, fills it with water (without emptying it) and places it in the sink.
Always turns the kettle/toaster off at the wall switch in case of fire - fridge/cooker/microwave are ignored.
(Edited to add that she's also sharp as a tack).
Has she been involved in a house fire? The house I lodged in abroad caught fire and it all fell into my basement bedroom while I was at work so am a little jumpy about house fires and can sympathise with her. Always turns the kettle/toaster off at the wall switch in case of fire - fridge/cooker/microwave are ignored.
(Edited to add that she's also sharp as a tack).
When my Nan was alive for as long as I can remember she would tape the letterbox shut every night without fail then take it off again in the morning. She lived in a fairly rough area and one time some kids put fireworks through her letterbox so she was terrified of a fire happening and taped it shut every night for about 15yrs just in case. She would also put a chair up against the front door aswell so nobody could kick it in even though that was dangerous with her living alone and having a few falls.
J4CKO said:
Strange thing is, like a dog who thinks its human, he thinks he hasnt inherited the mentals !
Wifes auntie still covers the clock on the video recorder with a cushion so it doesnt alert burglars to the valuable Ferguson videostar, or she did until very recently.
I think a lot of people used to do that.Wifes auntie still covers the clock on the video recorder with a cushion so it doesnt alert burglars to the valuable Ferguson videostar, or she did until very recently.
My first Ferguson Videostar (Piano key model) with WIRED remote control cost £575 in 1976, probably around £4000 today.
They were VERY attractive to thieves.
Comet used to sell packs of 5 blank VHS tapes.....£25 (£150)
Prices did come down around two years later though.
I’ve got thousands
And can prove them all
Frying pan, too big to slip into the grill or the cooker with all the other pots and pans,
So it got slipped into the washing machine where it was out of sight,
Glass Privacy film, like the sort you’d put on unfrosted glass for a toilet
Put on the landing window,
Cardigans rolled up and put in the cupboard, in bags, in the drawers of the phone table in the hall
Cling film on the windows in winter, because it’s crap glass, it somehow makes the double glazing a lot better
Kitchen clothes rack for drying clothes,
Wouldn’t let anyone get rid, because it was dead handy, for drying one persons clothes
Elastic bands round the tap handles in case they turn themselves on,
Creosoting the shed doors, for 40 years, the paving flags are utterly ruined three feet from them,
And can prove them all
Frying pan, too big to slip into the grill or the cooker with all the other pots and pans,
So it got slipped into the washing machine where it was out of sight,
Glass Privacy film, like the sort you’d put on unfrosted glass for a toilet
Put on the landing window,
Cardigans rolled up and put in the cupboard, in bags, in the drawers of the phone table in the hall
Cling film on the windows in winter, because it’s crap glass, it somehow makes the double glazing a lot better
Kitchen clothes rack for drying clothes,
Wouldn’t let anyone get rid, because it was dead handy, for drying one persons clothes
Elastic bands round the tap handles in case they turn themselves on,
Creosoting the shed doors, for 40 years, the paving flags are utterly ruined three feet from them,
Turning water, gas and electric off when going away for a weekend or longer.
That was an expensive non insurance covered clean up after the harsh winter in 2010 when heating was turned on after 3 days off during -11C and dumped the circuits water content into the house as ice blockages broke push fit fittings.
That was an expensive non insurance covered clean up after the harsh winter in 2010 when heating was turned on after 3 days off during -11C and dumped the circuits water content into the house as ice blockages broke push fit fittings.
the fantastic flat shes in now, brand new build,
utterley incredible
doesnt like the wet room cos the fllor gets wet
shes put a sticker on the window, so that she can identify which is her flat from outside,
not been outside in 12 weeks, and its on the first floor anyway.
she thinks the doorbell is hard to see, so she put a sticker underneath it saying doorbell
note on the back door, saying she is old and cannot clean so take your shoes off,
utterley incredible
doesnt like the wet room cos the fllor gets wet
shes put a sticker on the window, so that she can identify which is her flat from outside,
not been outside in 12 weeks, and its on the first floor anyway.
she thinks the doorbell is hard to see, so she put a sticker underneath it saying doorbell
note on the back door, saying she is old and cannot clean so take your shoes off,
Father in Law, lives with us so we can keep an eye on him.
The foot pump for tyres/airbeds/footballs lives in its original box (from 30+years ago) that box is in another slightly bigger box, then the boxes are in a plastic bag which is tied with string, then the whole lot is in another plastic bag that has a knot tied in the handles.
It takes a good 2 minutes to actually get into it all and set the pump up, if you want to use any of the many little attachments then they are contained inside an old 1990s ready salted crisps packet in the original box.
He also wears old clothes, clean but ragged old stuff that a tramp would refuse on the grounds of them being more air gap than material, my Wife keeps editing them out and replacing them but he has a never ending secret supply of old rags.
Drives a well maintained 1980 Sierra, faded red, black plastic polished with boot polish, many cable ties and bits of old milk carton adorn it. It only ever has exactly a gallon of petrol put in it at any time and a special trip to get the gallon will be made at random.
The wooly hat, my two girls (4 and 6) call it the tea bag. and once they said It I cant unsee it !
Its like he has so much time he has to waste it.
The foot pump for tyres/airbeds/footballs lives in its original box (from 30+years ago) that box is in another slightly bigger box, then the boxes are in a plastic bag which is tied with string, then the whole lot is in another plastic bag that has a knot tied in the handles.
It takes a good 2 minutes to actually get into it all and set the pump up, if you want to use any of the many little attachments then they are contained inside an old 1990s ready salted crisps packet in the original box.
He also wears old clothes, clean but ragged old stuff that a tramp would refuse on the grounds of them being more air gap than material, my Wife keeps editing them out and replacing them but he has a never ending secret supply of old rags.
Drives a well maintained 1980 Sierra, faded red, black plastic polished with boot polish, many cable ties and bits of old milk carton adorn it. It only ever has exactly a gallon of petrol put in it at any time and a special trip to get the gallon will be made at random.
The wooly hat, my two girls (4 and 6) call it the tea bag. and once they said It I cant unsee it !
Its like he has so much time he has to waste it.
j4ckos mate said:
the fantastic flat shes in now, brand new build,
utterley incredible
doesnt like the wet room cos the fllor gets wet
shes put a sticker on the window, so that she can identify which is her flat from outside,
not been outside in 12 weeks, and its on the first floor anyway.
she thinks the doorbell is hard to see, so she put a sticker underneath it saying doorbell
note on the back door, saying she is old and cannot clean so take your shoes off,
Keep an eye on her, behaviour changes like that need keeping an eye on utterley incredible
doesnt like the wet room cos the fllor gets wet
shes put a sticker on the window, so that she can identify which is her flat from outside,
not been outside in 12 weeks, and its on the first floor anyway.
she thinks the doorbell is hard to see, so she put a sticker underneath it saying doorbell
note on the back door, saying she is old and cannot clean so take your shoes off,
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff