You may think you’re doing your friend a favour by giving their house a spruce-up, but you could be overstepping the mark, however well-meaning your intention is.
Everyone is houseproud, even those who don’t appear to be. heshphoto
I must say the house looked sparkling when I got back,” my cousin Alex wrote to me after I’d finished a fortnight’s house-sitting at her place on the coast. “Did you do some cleaning? Or maybe I left it like that, did I?” It was a rhetorical question, but I had a feeling the right answer would have been: “Yes, you left it like that.” (Miracles do happen.) “And heavens, I’d never presume to spring clean somebody else’s house.”
I didn’t tell her I’d done a good old clean and tidy most days, not just a quick vac and neaten-up before I left. I couldn’t help it. I’m always tidier and more thorough in other people’s houses than in my own, plus I had spare time and wanted to do something useful for her.
