visitors – Pete's Blog

Benjamin Franklin said that “guests, like fish, start to smell after three days”. Last weekend we had both sons and girlfriends staying with us for just over three days. Did they start to smell?

Firstly it is worth saying that I had the very best time, with the whole family. For various reasons we were not together at Christmas. We saw Tin and Cheryl at New Year but we have not seen Rob and Alessa for months. It felt very special to be all together at our new house in Lancashire. We went for walks, played games and ate so much food, from amazing onion soup at a fancy French gastropub to foot long eclairs from St Anne’s Pier.

The boys got on well, with fewer arguments than normal. And Cheryl & Alessa are both our favourite girlfriends/fiancées ever. In some ways they remind me of Mandy, because it is very clear who is in charge, and they suffer no nonsense from their menfolk, while staying kind, generous and patient to our many foibles.

So did the guests start to smell? Tin took me to one side on our final walk on Beacon Fell, before they set off for home. He said “I know you have had a wonderful time this weekend Dad, but if I said to you that we had decided to come back to the house now I know your face would fall.” He is right. Mandy would have been very happy, but that was not my plan. And as readers of this blog know, I do love a plan. Later this year we are hoping to spend a week with each couple in the Outer Hebrides, so I have no problem exceeding the 3 day rule, but only if that is the plan.

So no, they did not start to smell, but maybe I did. I love it when we have visitors. And I love it when it is just the two of us.

Do you feel the same or do you just love being with friends and family?

We don’t have grandchildren at the moment. And our sons are both over 30. So it is some time since we have looked after children. It was with some trepidation as well as excitement that we looked forward this week to thirteen and fourteen year old boys staying with us for a couple of days on the boat. Noah is our great nephew, and Ewan is his friend. The good news is that neither was a surly teenager with his head in an electronic device. Rather, both were extremely helpful, and on Wednesday we went down 26 locks with them. A great experience, including the famous Wigan flight of 21 locks.

We had a really good time with the boys, including too much junk food and pop, but also teaching them our favourite game of cards, as well as how to steer a narrowboat. What I had not expected was that by the end of the two days I would be completely knackered. Despite the boys being very helpful throughout, and despite them being old enough to keep themselves amused, I was reminded how much attention visitors require, especially in the confines of a boat.

Mandy and I are still in our fifties, so hardly old fogies, and we are looking forward this weekend to seeing Mandy’s brother, Andrew, and our newly qualified doctor niece, Zoë. But we are also looking forward to next week when it will be back to just the two of us.

When we lived in a house we always enjoyed having visitors and equally when they left. The boat just exaggerates this.

How about you? Do you prefer visitors arriving or leaving?

Tag: visitors

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