My House Keeper

 


If I had ever lived in a large house. 
I would have loved to have a house keeper .
She would be one of those long suffering , loyal cinematic type of house keepers….wise cracking, opinionated and always there….with a pithy comment, a gentle smile and bowl of soup. 
Think Miranda Hobbs’ Magna in Sex and The City….. Arthur Bach’s Hobson in Arthur or Karen Walker’s Rosario in Will and Grace.
Mine will be a Rosemary Harris lookalike whose always unseen husband will be keeping the garden up to standard . They live in and never had any children. 
We’ve never had a serious heartfelt conversation 
We’ve never had to.

Tomorrow I’ve set aside 2 strict hours 
I’ve completed my college work, I’ve caught up with my finances, I’ve done my online training for work ….so this is 120 minutes to sit with a coffee and write old fashioned letters to a few old friends I’ve not previously made time for. 
And so I will take the dogs for a long walk, feed them and set them up to sleep in the kitchen then I will  drive to Chester to sit in the Storyhouse to do some proper, unhurried letter writing with my coffee.

My old friends deserve this 
I deserve this too
I’ll go to Chester to stop real life intervening 

33 comments:

  1. A housekeeper would be my dream too. I had a cleaner when I was working. One of them took such good care of the house, she'd even pick something from the garden so there were little vases of flowers or greenery about. Have a lovely letter writing time!

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  2. Everything is real life ,,,,didn’t you know that?

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  3. I have no desire for a housekeeper as I feel that I am her myself - but an easily distracted one - Only recently someone called at my door -The dogs were badly behaved and I was unsure whether I had a virus so chatted at the door - I then noticed someone indoors listening behind a corner - the person from upstairs - Friend with a gift at the door looked puzzled - "I want to go to the toilet" we overheard - Friend at door looked strangely amused x

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  4. Enjoy your letter writing tomorrow!

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  5. I enjoy both receiving and sending chatty letters to family and friends, but sometimes feel that I don't express myself in letter writing as I do with verse/poetry. There are words and expressions I use in verse which don't sit comfortable with me in a letter. Do you intend to write long or short letters?

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  6. Anonymous11:24 pm

    Anna Madeley - Mrs Hall in ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ - perfect housekeeper!

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  7. In "Jane Eyre": " Mrs. Fairfax turned out to be what she appeared, a placid-tempered, kind-natured woman, of competent education and average intelligence."

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  8. Sounds a fine plan. I'll buy you lunch.

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  9. My fantasy housekeeper would be Brigitte Bardot in the film 'Babette goes to War'. My reality would likely be Mrs Doyle from 'Father Ted'.

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  10. Oh, I'd much rather do my own, as unbelievable as that sounds. I'm such a self conscious person that having someone in the background all the time would drive me crazy.

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  11. My people had a couple like that. She was Mrs Fuller, and he was plain Fuller. I adored them both.

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  12. I'd love a housekeeper - someone to pick up all the boring bits, make sure the fridge is full, organise house maintenance jobs and keep on top of the laundry. But what if they turned out to be like Mrs Danvers in 'Rebecca'!

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    1. Anonymous3:28 pm

      If you were the first Mrs De Winter there wouldn't be a problem - Mrs Danvers idolised her.

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    2. Mrs Danvers was a lesbian

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  13. I live in Chester, just one mile out of town. It's been about a year since I last actually set foot in the city and then it was to visit the dentist on one of the out of the way streets. That's weird isn't it in comparison to your visits?

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  14. Emma Thompson in Remains of The Day , I think I would need Anthony Hopkins too.

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  15. I'm in the "never wanted, would hate a housekeeper" brigade. The thought of someone being able to rummage through my drawers (!) and tidy things away so I could never find them fills me with horror. Some quiet time for long letter writing sounds good. Do you use a fountain pen? Please say yes! xx

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  16. A housekeeper who would take over all my least favourite chores. Wonderfu!.

    Good idea to go somewhere where you can separate your thoughts from the everyday and just take some time out. I like the sound of your Storyhouse.

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  17. My Buddist friend and her elderly gentle husband cleaned and gardened for a lady - I remember her telling me how thorough she was - I wouldn't have wanted her here as she would have been into every nook and cranny - He was popular and inherited from 2 customers I recall x

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    1. Anonymous3:52 pm

      👁

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    2. Anon, no longer able to get a rise out of John now goes for the harmless and funny flis.... Memo to self ... probably a narcissistic personality or perhaps a sociopath ..

      Jo in Auckland

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    3. Not being very tech minded I must be missing something, how is a picture of an eye (I think that's what it is) offensive?

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    4. Someone hijacking my moniker?!

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    5. The eye is all that is left of a previous comment somehow deleted accusing flis of telling peoples secrets. Anonymous up to it's sneaky tricks again.

      Jo in Auckland

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  18. I like a visiting housekeeper and cook. But no long-suffering (long-judging) live-in. I had friend who had a housekeeper named Basil. Young, handsome, not very bright. I never understood exactly what he did...

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  19. Well done! Hope you manage it - do let us know. Incidentally my carer (who comes for one hour am and pm is like a housekeeper - she keeps me and my bungalow in order.

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  20. Mrs. Bale from "As Time Goes By" complete with the motorcycle and sidecar.

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  21. No, I've never fancied a housekeeper or even a cleaner for that matter. I wouldn't be able to relax with someone else here pottering about my house. I'll just carry on having a sort out every now and then, and chasing the dust bunnies with the hoover when they get too big.

    Enjoy your time drinking coffee and writing letters, it sounds like a very good plan. xx

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  22. My housekeeper can be grumpy at times, and I often hear her scolding our little Pom whose full time job is playing and shedding fur. She also forgets to dust the lampshades.
    Another thing she does is skipping scrubbing behind the toilet a lot of the time. I've been thinking about telling her we can't use her services anymore, but she is me, and no one will clean our house (or my version of cleaning) for free like I do.

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  23. Barbara Anne6:35 pm

    You're no Bertie Wooster, but having a Jeeves to set all to rights might be nice.
    Enjoy your 120 minitues to write friends and have coffee tomorrow.

    Hugs!

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  24. I have occasionally toyed with having someone come in and clean the place, top to bottom, just to deal with jobs that I don't do well. But I'm a decent enough housekeeper that I can't justify the expense. Who cares if the tops of the kitchen cabinets are greasy? No one gets up there anyway!

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