You really ought to give people a heads upI havent prepared a thing! Do you have any idea how much it costs to entertain guests? shouted my mother-in-law.
Im the daughter-in-law: perfectly ordinary, working hard, certainly not the Queen of England. My husband and I live in our own flat in London, which were barely holding ontomortgage payments, council tax, jobs from dawn till dusk.
The mother-in-law lives in the countryside, as does my sister-in-law. And life would be just peachy, except theyve decided our flat is the Ritz for weekend getaways. At first, it sounded sweet:
Well pop round on Saturday!
Just for a bit!
Were family, arent we?
Right. Just for a bit means sleeping over; pop round means arriving with bags, empty casserole dishes and hopeful eyes hungry for a feast.
Every single weekend its the same story: after work I dash about Sainsburys, cook, clean, lay the table, smile for hours, then spend half the night scrubbing dishes and tidying up. Mrs. Valentina Smith is camped out on the sofa offering helpful advice:
Wheres the sweetcorn in the salad?
I like my soup much thicker, you know!
We never do it like this in the village.
And the sister-in-law chimes in:
Oh, Im absolutely knackered from the journey.
Isnt there any pudding?
But not once have I heard: Thank you,” or, Can I lend a hand?
One day, I snapped and told my husband:
Im not the housemaid and Im done catering to your entire family every weekend!
He actually agreed, suggesting we do something about it.
Thats when I had a stroke of genius.
Next time the phone ringsmother-in-law announcing, Well be round SaturdayI reply with zen-like calm:
Oh, weve got plans for the weekend.
What plans?
Just ours.
And do you know what? We actually wentwith our mysterious plansstraight to Valentina Smiths place. Saturday morning, my husband and I are standing in her front garden. She opens the door and freezes.
What on earth is this?!
Oh, weve come round. Just for a bit.
You should have warned meI havent prepared a thing! Do you know how much entertaining costs?!
I looked her in the eye, cool as you like:
See? This is my life every weekend.
So youre teaching me a lesson?! Outrageous!
She made such a scene the neighbours were peering out, and soon we were back in our car heading home.
And heres the best bitafter that, never again did we have a single pop round unannounced. No more casual drop-ins, no more marathon weekends in my kitchen. Sometimes, you have to show people what its like to be in your shoes before theyll ever listen.
So, what do you thinkdid I do the right thing? What would you have done if your weekend looked like that?
