Cats and Cleaners

[smokingboot]

The leaves are falling, and we've no Ralik-cat to share them with us. Not that he would necessarily - he'd more likely just stare and go to sleep. But we have tall trees around the house and when the leaves fall, the back looks so pretty. I hope wherever he is, he's OK. Did a meditation to Bast asking her to protect him, and I saw her in my mind's eye smiling, scritching his head just the way he likes it with him standing up on his hind legs making his teddy bear face. I feel she's looking after him, and I seriously don't mind others thinking I'm deluded. I love our little demonlord and always will, whether he's coming back or gone for good.

If he ever comes back he will find a couple of things have changed. Surya was acting a little clingy, and what with me doing dayshows and Russ at work, we worried that she was lonely. So we got two eight week old kittens.



The smallest is a fairy cat, white with odd eyes, one clear blue and one ambergreenishwhatever...she's the runt of the litter and she squeaks with piercing indignation whenever she doesn't get her way. We've called her Freya. Her sister is black, fearless and feisty and we've called her Durga. Both are affectionate and both are currently facing the less than friendly advances of the cat we got them to please. Surya hisses at them with menace, and makes long low growls of the F*ck-Off-This-Is-My-Patch variety. Freya makes herself as big as she can and hides if she must, Durga gets ready to rumble...so far the stairs are the main battleground. Surya sits at the top, her glower unmistakeable to all except Durga who clearly thinks that either a) it's a game or b)she can easily take on this much-bigger-armed-with-no-sense-of-humour-type-cat. larians and I stand by, ready to ensure no tragedies ensue, armed with ham bribes and tea-towels.



Other changes include the addition of a cleaner to our household routine. This is really odd to me.

I have no qualms whatsoever about paying someone to clean, I don't feel guilty about service, anymore than I have qualms about paying for someone to cook me meals or change the wheels on the car. Work deserves respect, and better it be if that respect takes the form of wads of notes, all well and good. But...

I don't like it. I hate cleaning, so when larians and I started shifting boxes around so that she could get to things, I could feel my disgruntlement rising. Things needed to be moved so she could get around the place, larians told me. It felt like the universe trying to guilt trip me into being tidy, cos she's a cleaner not a tidyer. What?
Just lift the offending object, wipe underneath it, and put it back, how hard can it be? I recall reading an article by a French lady talking about how Brits spoil their cleaners/servants etc, and I was beginning to wonder. I have better things to do than make things presentable for my cleaner, says I, feeling guilty as she moves dustbin liners full of rubbish down the corridor to the front door. I should get up and help. No I shouldn't. But I feel awkward. There's hours of this to go yet.

I feel uncomfortable. Yes, I appreciate the job she's doing but I don't have the house to myself and I can't just be.

It's not just that I hate doing housework myself, I actually don't like being in the vicinity while it's happening. Like a true brat, I want the housework done when I am not there, preferably by household pixies. Or else eventually I'll do some, probably quite badly, when I feel like it. In my parents' spotless house, Mum never got how I didn't take to housework. When I was very young, she used to say my inability was unnatural. I couldn't help hating it, couldn't help my total indifference to whether the taps shone or not, never took pride in one single moment of it. 'Ah, but you couldn't live in the mess you make,' she would say sagely. Years of living alone proved her wondrously wrong. I just didn't care and I still don't. I appreciate those who do as long as they don't try to share their work ethic with me.

Now I sit here, uneasy because I can't relax. Like I said, she's a nice lady and I appreciate how badly our house needs this. But I still want it over and her gone.

I just looked at the kitchen. She's made it shine like a diamond.

Comments

[ellefurtle.livejournal.com]

I agree it's horrible lurking about whilst the cleaner is doing things. An odd mixture of guilt and resentment at them being in my space! And for the short time we had a cleaner when I was as teen I HATED having to tidy my room for the cleaner, who wouldn't clean anything that wasn't clear of stuff. I.e. if there was stuff on the floor she didn't hoover it. Some weird thing about not wanting to get into moving people's things around. I would have been just as mad had she moved my stuff about actually, so cleaning ladies + teens is fail all round really unless they've had it from birth!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

My teens are long over and the resentment never dies! I mean, the tidying is the hard part. Once everything's picked up, running the hoover across the floor is the easy bit!

[yapman.livejournal.com]

My wife insists on us tidying up, but justifies it by saying the cleaner has more time to do cleaning that way. It's a fair point in our case, if she had to spend 30 minutes tidying away the kids toys the floors wouldn't get washed, or something else would slip.

The thing I can't abide is the way things get put in the wrong place. I cope with being in the house when she's cleaning by the simple expedient of sitting in the study with the door closed (the study is not to be cleaned) waiting for her to leave so I can safely use the toilet again. I believe she exists in a similar state of blissfully pretending I'm not here. She's certainly terrified if we ever have to communicate directly. Not being able to find anything in the kitchen is annoying, particularly as it normally happens when I'm cooking and need it now.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Your wife and larians share the same reasoning! Personally I have never separated cleaning from tidying...as for things being put in the wrong place, I have no sense of organisation and lose things everyday, so I can't really complain about that!

She is still here. Today she is doing the 'big spring clean' after which the idea is that she pops in and does an hour or two per week. I have nowhere to hide!

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

When Mum and I used to clean, if there was a room that wasn't tidy she'd just shut the door and refuse to even go in there. She used to say that tidying is not her job, and if the place isn't tidy enough to clean then that's not her problem.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

To quote larians "How is she supposed to know where to put things?" After seeing what she could do once we had removed the clutter, I can see what he means. But thinking this way is very different to me, possibly because I have always been uberslob.

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

The reason I'd never want a cleaner is because I have a tendency to lose stuff - I would then always be worried that she'd stolen it and would get paranoid. Given that I did the job for years and never stole anything you'd think I'd be a bit more chilled than that, wouldn't you?

[bytepilot.livejournal.com]

My teens are long over
Dear heart, I shall be amazed and astonished on the day your teens are over.

Until that unlikely time, you remain a carefree and mischevious 19 yearold with a 20 megawatt smile that can knock a decade off the attitudes of anyone that even catches its edge.

Truth.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

*Beam* love the way you flatter!

[jadeent.livejournal.com]

I can sympathise with the cleaner issue. We occasionally get a cleaner in for the mother-in-law on those weeks when we're too busy to do the cleaning ourselves. I too have that irrational feeling of wanting to hide when the cleaner is about and I feel much happier when she has gone.

The happiness usually rapidly fades when we find out how bad a job the cleaner has done on the mother-in-law's bathroom and we have to re-do it. The m-i-l likes her routines so she insists on having the same cleaner whenever we have to get one in and she always does an awful job on the one room that needs cleaning the most - the bathroom.

I hope Ralik is happy and safe where ever he is. And I hope Surya finally accepts the new kittens. We'd like kittens but the worry of how our other two cats would accept them has always stopped us. Our boys are very territorial and may not accept new cats into the house.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, my dear, for your kind wishes re Ralik. Re cat territory, I too have concerns. It may be that what we interpreted as clinginess may well be Surya's preference - she may just like having us and the house to herself. Fortunately, we have a friend who will take the little kits for us if that proves to be the case, but I hope it doesn't come to that.

As for the cleaning, I have the sinking feeling that this lady is excellent. The kitchen is so clean I daren't go into it to make a sandwich.

[cyanidemigraine.livejournal.com]

take heart my dear, i remember once a great deal of worry that surya and ralik were destined to fight forever and bully each other

give it some time, cats are very humanlike you know, and i suspect your feelings about the cleaner are not the furthest feelings in the world from the ones surya has about your new kittens, people adapt and get used to things.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

You are wise and kind. I do remember my fears about the terrible two, what a time that was! You were wise and kind then as well...

I'm watching Freya and Durga enjoying a kitty punch up. They're loving it!

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

Yay for new pusskits! Pictures, pretty please?

How did you find your cleaner? I want one, if only to give us a reason to tidy. Neither Simon nor I are natural housework bunnies, and the state of the place is beginning to depress me. I don't mind mess, but I draw the line at living in dirt. But I want one who speaks english! Am I being picky?

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Pusscat photos as soon as I can work out how to do it!

Re cleaners, we found this lady via an ad in Tescos. I don't think it's picky to want someone you can communicate with, I think it's just trial and error. I could mention you to her if you like, but I think you're a bit beyond her manor...

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

I should imagine so. I thought of going to an agency, but I'd rather have someone reccomended.

Never mind, maybe one of your many friends with cleaners lives in North London!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I seem to have got this completely wrong - Sonya is happy to clean anywhere in London, and is interested in more work! They are called S&L Cleaners/Cleaning? and her number is 07950 457 794. As far as I can tell she will tailor any arrangement though it seems based on around a tenner an hour. Startup major spring clean is £80 - she started at 10 and finished at 4.30 - and after that, it's down to how often and for how long.

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

Splendid! Is her English passable?

Will have to wait until after Pay Day both for the major start up and for the time to be home to declutter a bit and supervise, but Sonya may well have herself a deal!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

More than passable, she's a London girl!

Housework for Hedonists

[happybat.livejournal.com]

In my old life, I had a succession of cleaners. The first was a wonderful old woman, who fought great battles with the agency, read tarot, dispensed wisdom and reminded me much of certainly elderly relatives. I felt utterly comfortable with her - I would stand sewing and chatting while she cleaned, and it was great. Then alas the agency won.

Replacement ladies included the terrifying ex-headmistress, the very precise nurse, the showgirl, and the heartbreaking teenaged mum, who was actually worse than useless but who seemed so overwhelmed by life I struggled to find the will to say anything to her. I could never be in the same house as any of them. It just felt.. wrong. And I felt guilty about not doing it myself. And rather judged.

These days I do my own (when I get round to it) and I am not sorry for it. It makes my home feel more mine, and I take a pure sensual pleasure in making the place enjoyable to be in. And sometimes, whisper it, in the work itself. I hated it when it was duty - but doing it for joy works :)

Re: Housework for Hedonists

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Alas, I cannot join you on this one, and no amount of imagineering can turn housework into a sensual delight for me, though it sounds a truly lovely feeling. My house has never felt more mine because I cleaned it - but then, 'Home' is a strange concept for me, possibly cos of early life as a RAFbrat! One of my best friends recently described me as a wanderer whose ideal life would be to move from one exotic location to another every six months, closely followed by hordes of patient luggage handlers bearing chests full of my writings...

Hmm, yes. I could give that a try!