127: Daily Vicissitudes

Am having to work from home today and all I can hear is that incessant voice upstairs nagging away at our son to tidy his room.

It needs to be done but the management style is just so haranguing that his attitude is obviously resentful. He and I have cleared up before and it has been far less taxing.

This is holiday week for our son. As she will ‘looking after’ him in the week and he may have friends over or whatever, she will be busier than usual. So, I cooked on Sunday to last us for the following week. 

I come home from work on Wednesday – she has been out and about with our son and another family, eaten out for lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday, and yet the kitchen is a mess, the sink is full of breakfast stuff and then I am asked to do his cooking for the evening and our warming up. 

Today (Friday) I am at home as I had a hospital appointment, I come back and am told to do the lunch. I could say ‘no’ but just this taken-for-granted grates.

And when it comes to tidiness, as ever, clothes are all over the rooms and credit cards receipts – dating from six months ago – are strewn all over the dining table being ‘checked’, and they have been spread across for a week and a half now. What sort of role modelling behaviour is that? Does she not even notice the double standards?

Before leaving for the hospital I received these long instructions on where to park. I needed to buy some shoes and received sarcastic comments on where to buy – which ones were for old people and which ones young. Can she not just look after herself ... that would be a huge step forward.

Please, find someone else and leave us …

126: Ok but constant reminders

No big news to report.

Good summer with two holidays and peaceful at home.

During the week I am sleeping in another room in order to get a good night’s sleep – where there had been objection before from her, there now seems acceptance.

But a few small incidents which provide insight into character:

‘the credit card bill is small this month – just £1700.’ ‘Just?!!’, I exclaim. ‘Well, there are some exceptionals and so in reality about a 1000.’ Still no idea of what money really is!!

I brought our son home from his karate class and immediately she hauled him up on how he had been late in the morning, yada yada yada – and in that loud strident voice of her’s. He just nodded, raised his eyebrows at me and went off. The other day he asked her why she is always complaining? If not careful, that is the memory he will retain of his mother – always complaining.

This from the woman who does not go out to work, I collected him to save her time and cooking was not done until 8 and kitchen was a mess – which meant clearing up (that I was not allowed to do because she does believe that she needs to do this though I offer all the time) till 9:30 pm.

Monday evenings we try and watch a show together – starting at 9. She came up at 9:30, stared at her phone all the way through. How is all of that role modelling good behaviour?

Another day she said that it was my family that was always strident about a private school education. This from the woman who was determined that our son should change school and that, if he didn’t, how would I like it if he were surrounded by South Asians as they flooded the school he remains in.

And the comments continue about why I did not share a house when starting off my working life, why I stayed at home through university, why I have never worn jeans – just this constant drip, drip, drip of patronising advice.

I am just so tired of that strident voice and the hypocritical instructions.

We went to visit some friends last week. They are similar to us in terms of race, the wife was a university friend of mine and the husband and I both struggle. He and I had a good chat some years ago and had another one last week. He is seriously thinking about whether he can cope with her in the long term and they have a feisty relationship overall. But at least she works and he is away half the year for his work – so he ‘owes’ her a lot as she has brought up their son pretty much on her own. But her son is also considerably closer to him as she is also always nagging away.

We came to the conclusion that both our wives simply do not know how to be happy. Continuously, it is a hankering after something else instead of appreciating what we have. There was this article in the newspaper - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/oct/09/age-envy-be-happy-everyone-else-perfect-social-media - about envy arising from other people’s seemingly perfect lives. My wife certainly browses Facebook a lot but hardly ever posts – that cannot be healthy.