Finding myself in the usual new Years Eve limbo and being rather superstitious about beginning a new job at the end of an old year I bethought me that the oven could do with a good old after Christmas clean. To be truthful if should have been done before the holiday but I was constrained by lack time.
I assembled all the usual adjuncts to this less that welcome ask. Scourer, clothes, metal scourer, biological washing powder(this shifts burned on grease faster than any oven cleaner on the market) glass cleaner and drying cloths and working from top to bottom off I went,
The filter on the extractor fan was most unsavoury and this I cleaned first while a coating of damp Biological powder did its stuff in the oven. At the same time the gas rind parts were soaking in a solution of the same gunk along with the wire racks and the grill pan.
As I scrubbed away I pondered the much improved lot of the modern woman compared to her counterpart of a hundred years ago. This was not a good idea as I am firmly of the opinion that the myriad gadgets which even tecnophobs like me possess enslave women rather than set them free.
For example. Suppose that you have a pot over and open fire on which to cook, primitive, yes but at least no on is going to expect you to produce cordon blue standard meals (as seen on TV)! I have heard people say that open fires are too much trouble and yet we spend endless hours cleaning an endless amount of gadgets which are supposed to make life easier.
I was given a nut and seed grinder, prior to acquiring this article a used to grind my seeds using a mortar and pestle which were easy to rinse clean afterwards, not so the grinder. This has numerous small parts some of which come off to clean, some of which do not. The cleaning process takes ages and endangers ones finger ends alarmingly. Failure to get out even the slightest trace of the previous item...let us say coffee will result in the strangest tasting ground almonds, walnuts, sesame seeds etc. I now use the mortar and pestle once more and occasionally dust the grinder!
Dishwashers are another bug bear. By the time you have scrapped off every trace of food , spent and age bent double carefully loading the machine and then unloading it I doubt if very much labour has actually been saved. Add to that the dreadful smelly and disgusting mess that these machines can get in to and I wonder that there are not more outbreaks of food poisoning. I once watched the sump of a dishwasher being emptied and the smell alone was sufficient to deter me from ever using one in my own home. Any odd bits of food are,after the washing and drying process welded so firmly on to the crockery or glass ware that it takes an age to soak it off.
Yes I have heard that one is expected to clean the machine out each time but who does? Do you? Nobody of my acquaintance cleans their dishwasher that often and if one did it would certainly take the gilt of the gingerbread of not having to wash up by hand.
By now I was scrubbing the metal shelves with wire wool to remove the burnt on grease,a poxy task to be sure, almost as bad as ironing........but not quite. With my mind still wandering I began to reassemble the now gleaming oven and hob and could not help wondering how long its pristine state would last? Only I expect until someone I shall not name names boils a pan of milk over and neglects to clean it properly,and now we arrive at the nub of the matter and the cause of this lament.
We women spend an inordinate amount of our lives cleaning up the mess made by others. We do this for the sake of a comfortable home and because we do not wish to be considered slatterns. We may very well detest house work ,never the less we carry out these tasks even if as is often the case these days we are engaged in full time employment.
Men often wax satirical about a woman’s attitude to house work but they do not understand why we can be so touchy about it so I will explain.
Since time immoral housework and cookery have been considered women’s work and even in the face if women’s lib this is still more often than not the case.
A woman who does house work,cleaning .ironing etc. is doomed to see her life’s work ruined every day of her life by the very people for whom she cares the most. No wonder she gets tetchy now and again.
Then there is the poor soul who keeps and impeccable house and works full or part time. This woman is not having it all.....she is doing it all and there is a vast difference. If a man helps with the washing up he expects to be praised and rewarded for his efforts after all he as worked all day. For a woman it is expected that she will deal with these tasks no questions asked and no rewards given.
Then there is the hardy soul who says “Sod it.” and lets the dust settle, after all the plaque in the kitchen,if you can find it bears the legend , "Only boring people have tidy houses”
She is hailed by some as the woman of the future and reviled by others as a slut neither of which is correct and yet when one sees n of ants is making off with everything in the kitchen cupboard and there is bright blue mould growing out of the dirty pots on the draining board one is obliged to wonder if Darwinism could possibly be at work
I fall into the category of the reluctant housewife , yes love cooking but I would love it even more if it did not make such a damned mess which have to clean up. I detest house work so much that I would prefer to spread manure over the garden by hand that do ironing or cleaning of any sort. I a n told that my home is lovely yet to me it always looks untidy ,a housekeepers life is hell if she is a perfectionist but there is consolation.
If my home was always tidy it would mean that there was no one around to make a mess, no Pa, no son, no visitors with dirty shoes or a dog in tow. I would rather have things as they are thank you and yet I wish I had a man’s ability to ignore dust, dirt and general untidiness , that would make life much easier I am sure.
And now it only remains for me to wish you Happy and Prosperous New Year, may all your dreams come true and may the dust never settle on your glass dinning table!
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