What's the strangest thing you've seen in someone's house that they thought was 'normal'?

[00100001]

I'll go first.

When I was 7, I went to a friend's house, and had bright red mashed potatoes for dinner.her dad always put food colouring in food. She thought this was normal, a d everyone had coloured mash.

A friend from the Caribbean is an interior designer and was asked to quote for a couple of rooms in a swish London house. A house in which, in a glass case in the entrance hall, the family had on display some mementos of their past. Manacles and chains from their sugar-growing, people-owning past. She didn't get past the hall.

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea

The duckling. My very lovely friend can't help herself from 'rescuing' wildlife and found an abandoned duckling which she took home to tend. It was very happy in the garden and the bath. Bit weird when I first went to her house and it watched me go to the loo...

But she worried that it might not be ok without her, so every time she had to come out for work events, she brought the duckling. In a bucket. We were supposed to be holding a VERY serious conference with all sorts of visiting academics doing powerpoint presentations in front of a very serious audience. At every small silence, you could hear the gentle quacks of the duckling as it rotated itself around a bucket at the front of the room.

That's so funny

@longwayoff

The vinegar makes cucumber more digestible and, same with raw onion, makes it far less harsh to eat.

We’ve always done tomatoes in balsamic with a tiny bit of olive oil. It’s lovely 😊

The duckling

@5128gap

A horse. I went to play with a new girl from school when I was about 8, and there it was in their front room. Her mom gave us carrots and we fed it. Over 40 years ago now, and I still remember how jealous I was.

Was the new girl Pippy Longstocking?

@countrypunk

My 'best friend' at primary school (she was actually a messed up bully) had a goldfish pond in the living room. I thought it was amazing at the time but looking back it was absolutely gross.

It wasn't in East Sussex, was it?

[quote Rugbycomet]@grey12 Where I am bread can last at least 5 days, and still tastes and smells fresh. What are Portuguese doing wrong with their baking, or storing - that bread goes stale in one day? That's not normal, surely? confused

It’s because there are no preservatives in it, same as French bread. Uk bread is full of crap[/quote]
Yes quite.

Give me Portuguese/French/Italian/etc bread any day.

You bake or buy it daily and eat it when it’s fresh. It’s actual bread as it always was, not pasty preservative-filled crap from supermarkets.

I took a client from work to visit her mum and creepy stepfather, and we sat at the kitchen table for tea. I asked to use their loo, and creepy Stepdad said "It's just there" pointing to a doorway about a foot away from his chair. He'd removed the door and put a curtain across. He then said "You'd better be quick or I might have to open the curtain to check you're ok".

@longwayoff jaw dropped 😧

@longwayoff

A friend from the Caribbean is an interior designer and was asked to quote for a couple of rooms in a swish London house. A house in which, in a glass case in the entrance hall, the family had on display some mementos of their past. Manacles and chains from their sugar-growing, people-owning past. She didn't get past the hall.

@MyMummyHasGotABigBottom

On the cucumber and vinegar thing… my Nan (nearly 90) and my mum have a thing about salmon sandwiches. It’s red salmon (not pink, but red) from a tin. You tip it out into a dish and have to remove all the bones. Then the salmon is seasoned with malt vinegar and ground white pepper. And put in sandwich with thinly sliced cucumber.

Now. The sandwich itself I can manage as it tastes nice. But the salmon being from a tin and the bones… 🤢🤢

This isn't strange! But it's probably one of those things that people in their 50s now ate growing up but haven't passed on to their own families .

@Lillipops

My best friend, I used to go to her house most nights and the fridge was full of M&S ready meals...curry's, lasagne etc. Must've cost a fortune but I'd never seen a ready meal before my mum always cooked from scratch, they had 3 kids, 2 adult sons and a daughter. Her mum used to go to the butchers and bakers every Saturday. Soup was always in a tin. Mental I think the amount they must've spent on food. My folks worked every hour they could but I always felt like the poor relation. Their dad was always looking for a pot hole to fall down !! Where there's blame there's a claim 😬

You sound extremely judgmental There could be any number of reasons such as hidden health issues etc. What a lovely friend you were

@LeanneBrownsLonelyBraincell

All meals eaten off paper plates as her mum couldn't be bothered with washing up.

Being given spaghetti hoops and chips for tea in the same house, so carbs and carbs. Eight year old me didn't know what a carb was, but she did know that tinned spaghetti and chips was just not right....

Are you serious ? Isn't this a pretty normal meal for primary age children ? Fish fingers or nuggets / chips or smiley faces / spaghetti hoops or beans . Obviously not every day but a pretty standard meal .

This is my parents’ kitchen. They think this is totally normal.

Are they meant to be - like - really really large mug holders @ComtesseDeSpair ?

Further to the bread story, the bread in question always came from a local bakery. To this day I regret the fact that I never got the chance to taste it when it was fresh.

Interestingly, a friend from university told a very similar story. For as long as she could remember, the family's weekend routine was:

Saturday morning: Shopping for the weekend (including fresh bread)
Saturday tea: Cold meats, cheese, salad, bread & butter
Sunday lunch: Traditional roast meal
Sunday tea: Toast

My friend and her sister often asked their mother if they could have the fresh bread for Saturday tea, and use older bread for the toast on Sunday. For some bizarre reason the mother always refused. Both daughters were well into their teens before they finally managed to persuade her.

@Thedayohthedayohtheday

I took a client from work to visit her mum and creepy stepfather, and we sat at the kitchen table for tea. I asked to use their loo, and creepy Stepdad said "It's just there" pointing to a doorway about a foot away from his chair. He'd removed the door and put a curtain across. He then said "You'd better be quick or I might have to open the curtain to check you're ok".

I doubt anybody in the house thought this was ‘normal.’

@ComtesseDeSpair

This is my parents’ kitchen. They think this is totally normal.

That's so funny! I love it!

@ComtesseDeSpair

This is my parents’ kitchen. They think this is totally normal.

Fabulously eccentric! Now, my burning question is….do the mannequins remain in the same spot all the time or are they moved about as and when necessary, i.e. when mopping etc, and do they ever make it into another room? Must really mess up the feng shui of the house!

@ComtesseDeSpair

This is my parents’ kitchen. They think this is totally normal.

Full “Home Alone” vibes, brilliant 😂

[quote SamiReed1]**@Gwenhwyfar Someone should tell the Italian then. It's customary to serve Spaghetti and garlic bread together.[/quote]

@Gwenhwyfar @SamiReed1 not in the part of Italy my family is from 😮😮😮

@ProfessionalWeirdo I find it sad

I still remember my family buying fresh bread from the supermarket (it's also really good there ) and it smelling soooo good, still warm, that we would eat maybe half of it in the car

@DwangelaForever

Why is hot rice pudding with jam in considered weird 😭😭 you can literally buy muller rice with jam in

It's not. It's the fact that the family was so excited about having it

@MintyGreenDream

When I was given the option of hot baked beans or cold at a friend's house when I was about 8.Still shudder now at the thought of cold bean juice.

I absolutely love cold beans, straight from the tin with a slice of gala pork pie and come pickled cauliflower - always used to have it on Boxing day. Yum. Regularly eat a spoonful of cold beans before I heat up

I would be excited about rice pudding and jam at a family meal. That's one on here I don't find weird!