Omg such anality from pil. Come and share your anal behaviour stories (lighthearted)

my dear old grandad used to have cut out bits of frozen food packaging with the instructions on so he could look up how to cook things, one time we had different things to eat and they were cooked at different temperatures, we had to cook them separately and he made me turn the oven off and on again so it would preheat to the correct temperature, bless him!

ooer LRD...it's the re-using the milk mug for coffee that does it I'm afriad. I bet you get all cats bum mouth if anyone ever gets a clean one :o

Condiment stuffing is a student thing, surely? Do elderly people (or in fact people in their 50s ) do it as well?

I can actually see the not driving thing starting in my mum. She no longer drives at night I don't think, and whenever they go anywhere my dad drives. She goes out on her own so presumably she does still drive but it's worrying me. My dad recently bought a bigger car and has been ensuring she drives it every now and again just so she can.
She's mid 50s...

It wasn't the obsessive alphabetising, no!

I think someone said upthread this is all a mix of funny and a bit sad because it is the quirks you miss (or some of them anyway!).

I realized this morning I am well on my way to this - I've got a scoop in the porrige oats that does precisely the right amount and a mug that does the right amount of milk, and then does for coffee after so you don't need to wash it up. If the scoop is being washed up you need the blue spoon from the drawer, not just any one thing. I patiently explained this to DH before it occurred to me how it sounded.

eating out loudly insists on TAP WATER,none of that funny water.
stuffing condiments into pockets,despite fact we do in fact have ketchup at home

the bottled water thing reminds me of my late Grandparents- used to run the tap for ages before a drink of water, all the run water went into old milk bottles for the kettle later.

My Gran also had a soap thingy, a mold to pop all the old slivers of soap and squeeze into a new bar. I found it fascinating as a child- she offered to get us one, I had to tell her we don't use soap! She was horrified!

I think my DSis, who just moved into her first ever flat, has started my whole family on the slippery slope to madness...... Myself and DB live too far away for our parents to visit, so this Christmas I visited home and I got to see DM out of her natural environment for the first time. She took slippers, she took food every time. DM also unplugs the TV each night but I find that sensible as it has no on/off just standby. So they are saving money.

Thanks LRD it was my dad's dad and he had had a long and happy life, so while it's sad it's also nice iyswim :)

Unless you're sympathising with my dad's obsessive alphabetising of his CDs - yes that does get a bit much :o

not switching on mobile phone in case it rundown down battery
refusing to answer ringing mobile phone as thought it would cost money
habitually fretting about health taking expensive placebo that quack sold for energy restoration
fussing,and declaring kids look scruffy, having to be restrained to prevent spitting on hanky to clean face

LaQ -mum does that tap thing. With old milk cartons, which she then uses to water the garden. You're also not allowed to rise out the teapot, you have to go and rise it out over a plant so as not to waste water.

She has just turned 60, btw, so this is not a 'war rationing' thing.

cailin - god knows! Gradual loss, I suppose.

LaQueen - "Dave" (my father) parks at the far end of the car park over two spaces for fear anyone would damage his pride and joy. He drops Jean (my mother) at the door of the supermarket and then goes to the far end of the car park, walks to the supermarket, finds Jean, they do the shopping and pack the bags with military precision, and then she waits in the porch of the supermarket while he goes to the furthest end of the supermarket to get the car.

He is also another one who believes a car that is half full of fuel is half empty and insisted once on stopping at the nearest filling station and paying to fill my car. I should do that more often.

He also drives her everywhere. She can drive. But since they both retired, he takes her anywhere she needs to go. They never go anywhere alone, they come as a pair. I actually worried about this a few months ago when he was ill and I suddenly thought that if he died she hasn't hardly driven in 15 years .

My DD has a tiny sports car, he is quite small and round too. We call him Mr Toad and his car, "Mr Toad's wild ride".
He is convinced it is a vandal-with-trolley magnet so parks it all on it's own in the supermarket car park. He might as well leave it at home and walk so great is the distance he parks from the entrance.
He however regularly scrapes the sides of the car when manoeuvring into his HUGE double garage!

Why are older people so reluctant to admit they can't hear? My dad's as deaf as a post but totally denies it. The tv is so loud i can't watch it with him

SPB - sorry about your dad. It's not all funny, at all.

On that note, about hearing aids - my gran hated hers, constantly let the batteries run down and then told us suspiciously it wasn't working, twiddled with it to produce that mega-annoying shrill scream, etc. etc. For about the last five years of her life she would refuse to admit she couldn't hear and would get very grumpy if it became obvious she wasn't keeping up with the conversation/you were repeating things louder for her. Then she got diagnosed with brain cancer, they put her on steroids, and her hearing back back. We felt really awful, as if we should have known, but then her doctors said we couldn't have known. I keep wondering if it's something that could have been picked up sooner.

Her house was amazing - decoration vintage 1970s down to crazy, dark green-and-brown lozange-pattern wallpaper all over the hallway. I'm not sure what the people who bought it thought! She'd also kept receipts going well back into pre-decimal and I found report cards she'd kept copies of from children she'd been teaching in the late 50s and 60s.

I can see how manuka honey could kill germs in a cut but how would drinking it help?

i have a mate who's H had experienced some kind of house fire as a kid and when she was lying in bed she could hear him going around all the plugs downstairs going "off, off , off " out loud.

h and I do affectionately occasionally and lol a little

My MIL insists on keeping a pair of slippers at our house, which winds me up beyond belief.

In addition, MIL refuses to cook - I mean totally refuses. She's only late 50's. She'll happily invite us & other family members over then spring on us 'is it going to be chippy or indian', now days she is way way more cunning & asks me how difficult it would be to bring 'that nice sausage / chicken dish you make over'. I dutifully, make food & deliver hot or cold to her house, serve & then wash up. I tried to cook in her kitchen last year, blunt knives & a look of horror when I asked for a chopping board. bless

I thought my parents were fairly normal. However, I've just realised:

When they came for Christms they each brought a pair of slippers.

They cannot bear to have a bottle of ketchup on the table, they hav a special little pot into which the ketchup is decanted. My mother bought me a fancy teaspoon for my ketchup pot once. I have never used it.

My dad is obsessed with keeping the car clean and often nips out to give the wheels a quick wash. My car, which I have hoovered once in two years and is full of important twigs and children's artwork which never made it into the house, disgusts him.

My parents go on holiday to the same guesthouse every year. There will be no deviation from this. Before they go, my mother will pack practically every item of clothing she owns and write down everything she has packed in a small notebook. Despite not being allowed in the house until 3pm, they will pack the car to bursting and leave at 5am for the four hour journey. My dad will write down the time they left, how many stops they made and time of arrival, plus mileage. He is also obsessed with toll roads and how much shorter they can make a journey, but that's another story. When there my mother will write down everything she has worn every single day and where she wore it - she will change clothes at least once. Hence lots of notes like "blue tshirt w/check skirt & strappy sandals/light mac for TEA ROOMS evening red floral dress w/cardigan and smart jacket DINNER OUT.' When she gets home she will happily make lists if what she wore and what she didn't wear.

Have just sat here in tears with this thread - brilliant and so relatable!!
My fave is my DGPS obsession with the weather. Every evening the weather is studied after the news to see if a trip may commence the next day, or indeed if any washing may be done - as it may only be dried outside regardless of time of year. Cue phone call to DM to see if she has heard any conflicting weather adivce. On the following morning if the weather looks fairly good the barometer and pine cone will be checked, if the washing machine will be duly loaded, they will then sit in as the washing machine may not be left unattended. They will have tea at 11 and unload and hang washing at 11.30.
They will then prepare and way lunch for 1.
Around this time they will discuss popping out, but non the less have to decide against it due to having to be present to fetch the washing in.
Also on days when a trip out in the car may go ahead, forward planning with 2 umbrellas, driving shoes, and maps must be undertaken - even if driving 5 mins to town in the summer!!

Can everyone ignore my last message?? Seems I'm a bit behind!!!
Also explains why I couldn't find it in chat

Can I suggest this thread for classics? It's brilliant!!!

shesariver, I love all that detailing by your FIL ...mine is SUCH an amateur!