I was at hoping to be at home today, but I’m still at Ma’s and will be until Friday. On Friday night we are staying in Watford and I will finally be back in my house on Saturday!
Living with your parents as a grown up is weird. Staying at Ma’s house is never a problem and neither is having her stay at mine, but it normally happens on the weekend or at Christmas. Having to do it and go to work and do normal things is odd.
It’s fantastic, it’s easier to get up in morning, somehow knowing that someone is getting up too, makes it easier or maybe its a learned response from knowing that if I don’t there will be trouble! It’s lovely to get out of the shower and find coffee made and breakfast ready. I have told Ma that she doesn’t have to get up with me, she’s not going to work so I wouldn’t mind if she didn’t get up, though I suspect she does it to make sure that things are done her way and not the ‘wrong way’, rather than a desire to wait on me hand and foot.
She also did my washing and the cooking. Which is lovely and I’ve decided that the secret to happiness might be having a maid, however, that isn’t likely to happen and I’d probably struggle to share living space, having the builder around was driving me so demented I had to move out for the week!
It’s strange it is to live with someone again, even briefly. It’s been 4 years, since I shared living space with someone and it requires a set of mental muscles that you don’t exercise when you live alone. What you eat, where you put things, whether you wash up straight after dinner or leave it until later. For the record, we both wash up after dinner but Ma likes to dry and put away and I like to air dry and put away before bed or the next morning. I maintain it’s more hygienic, Ma that her way is the best and most tidy way (I once bought Ma a card that said ‘My opinions may change but not the fact that I am right’, which about sums it up!). Generally, we do it her way at her house and at mine when she stays! There’s just a whole set of tiny adjustments you need to make. I’ve found it easier than I thought but I suspect that’s because it’s only for 4 days and it’s my mum, I’m used to doing what she tells me to do!
Other things that have been different. The commute from Surbiton to Waterloo each morning. It’s just as crowded and I still don’t get a seat but there are no tourists coming in from the airport so everyone knows how to commute which helps a lot. It’s a slightly longer walk to and from the station and it’s involves this hill. Which is much steeper than it looks in this photo and I go down it in the morning and up on the way home, if there was any justice in life, it would be the other way round!
I know that both Ma and I am looking forward to next week being back to normal!
Nic Dempsey 