We are in a lovely holiday cottage and we keep breaking things. Is anyone else as clumsy as us?

[Mollythewally]

Day 1: Dog swished his tail and knocked a glass of red wine up the immaculate pastel coloured matt walls.

Day 2: I smashed a wine glass that can only be sourced in the states (I googled) to try to find a replacement myself.

Day 3: The swing bin lid is broken. I'm not entirely sure this was us but there is an inventory at change over and no mention of this so I assume it's our fault.

Day 4: Dog creates a 'viewing window' in one of those tow along bike trailer things. He hasn't chewed it, just rested his head as we were cycling and ripped a hole in the (fairly insubstantial) lining.

I have ADHD and am exceptionally clumsy and used to paying the ADHD tax for all the things I cock up but this holiday has been something else. We've got 5 more days, what will we break next?

@Mollythewally: I think you are being a bit OTT/aggressive to a number of posters

@talkmethrough can you get hold of ace fabric bleach, home bargains kind of place sells it? Test it on a hidden section obviously! I’ve used it on my carpet to get stains out and it works brilliantly- not all carpets are bleach proof though!

[quote talkmethrough]@Boredhimtodeath Rugdoctor helped with the poo stain and I used antibac wipes as well but the owner saw it so tomorrow she will be like poo there. The pasta stain unfortunately left a faint orange and white streakz I've tried again today but there's also a discolouring maybe it's because it's still damp. [/quote]
Fingers crossed the pasta stain will have come out even if the rug is a lost cause!

Both me and my OH do, and I think it's worse on holiday if a place is unfamiliar. He has more than once knocked a glass of red wine up the wall (including at my mum's house the first time he met her!). I wouldn't expect a let to have anything unique or irreplaceable. I usually just apologise and offer to pay (never been taken up!). Hope you and your family have a lovely time, and would be fab to see a photo of the dog in the trailer!

@Leftbutcameback

Both me and my OH do, and I think it's worse on holiday if a place is unfamiliar. He has more than once knocked a glass of red wine up the wall (including at my mum's house the first time he met her!). I wouldn't expect a let to have anything unique or irreplaceable. I usually just apologise and offer to pay (never been taken up!). Hope you and your family have a lovely time, and would be fab to see a photo of the dog in the trailer!

Interesting, I think you're right about the unfamiliarity thing, the tables are all really low here and don't feel intuitive.

@DespairingHomeowner

It is a thread discussing things that have gone wrong, if you read it through it’s people discussing what has gone wrong, how they tried to prevent it and how they tried to fix it. There are also people discussing how they have adapted their lives to allow for these issues.

The user causing the issue is arguing that it’s being done on purpose/as a joke. People don’t put so much thought into adaptations if they don’t mean well.

Sticking up for yourself when someone is trying to make you feel shitty is not OTT.

OP, there has to have been a crime committed for something to be a hate crime. Simply being an arsehole isn't actually illegal.

I managed to break a wineglass and not one but two plates at the first dinner party friends gave after they were married. Yeah, the good stuff

I have dyspraxia and it's a mess! Constantly knocking shit over, banging into basically everything. Took me until I was 11 to learn to tie shoelaces

Just recently I had my phone in 1 hand and a cup of tea in another went to throw my phone on the bed and threw the tea everywhere

We went to one years ago where the first thing the owner did on our arrival was to check my toddler daughter's shoes for buckles "because they damage the leather sofas! The house was full of ornaments - as soon as she left, I went around removing anything else that could potentially be damaged!

@Lalliella

You are ignorant and ableist. Stop trying to shame disabled people.

No I’m not. You know nothing about me. 2 of those acts of damage were done by a dog. Am I species-ist? What I’m mainly objecting to is OP making light of someone else’s property being damaged. It’s really not that difficult to put a glass of wine in a place it won’t be knocked over by a dog. Disability doesn’t come into it.

You very clearly do not live with ADHD . Not to mention wittering on in the same way thay so many do that makes many people who live with ADHD feel stupid and wrong.

You claim noone knows anything about you, I hope to god you don't have anyone with Adhd in your life because laughter has to be a coping mechanism. We use it to try to stay sane in the face of people claiming its not a problem and we are just lazy or disrespectful. You genuinely need to reconsider your behaviour and views. Please don't worry people who live with ADHD give themselves a far harder time than you do....frankly you are redundant.

It can be incredibly difficult to do what seems to a neurotypical person a very simple task. Putting a drink down and accounting for moving people and animals and predicting behaviour is often like asking someone to climb Mount everest.

So Shush.....your opinion is simply not valid. You have every right to it but it doesn't make it valid, informed or relevant.

Sympathies, OP. I have no medical condition but am the clumsiest person most people have met. Fortunately I tend to injure myself rather than property, and am permanently black and blue. As a child my parents were called into school to discuss my bruising, and there have been times DP has visibly cringed as he’s watched someone eye up a bruise on my arms then eye him. (Absolutely nothing to do with him, ever.)

That said, a couple of years ago we got a lovely new rug and it took me less than one hour to drop a full cup of tea on it.

We rent out a holiday house.
We EXPECT things to get broken. Plates, glasses, mugs etc.
Even plastic patio stuff
At the beginning of the season we top it all up.
We deliberately use stuff we can co=ordinate, like plain white plates and all the mugs are in 2 colours, but now slightly different styles.

We don't deduct deposit for a couple of glasses/plates etc. The deposit is for the toddler swinging on the curtain rail who brings the whole thing crashing down leaving large holes in the walls.

But we also don't have any silly breakable ornaments!

for those dealing with dogs

Pets at home sell soemthign called Simple Solutions

We had a massive nasty dog diarrhea accident in the middle of our new cream carpet. It was a visiting dog and happened overnight so by the time we found it is was well soaked in.

We tried everything. Then someone said Simple Solutions. You spray it on and the enzymes eat the stain. gets rid of colour and smell. It's amazing, really works.

@Lalliella

You are ignorant and ableist. Stop trying to shame disabled people.

No I’m not. You know nothing about me. 2 of those acts of damage were done by a dog. Am I species-ist? What I’m mainly objecting to is OP making light of someone else’s property being damaged. It’s really not that difficult to put a glass of wine in a place it won’t be knocked over by a dog. Disability doesn’t come into it.

“It’s really not that difficult”

Okay we know nothing about you, except that you understand nothing about ADHD. Stop being ableist.

OP, one of my children is like this, and it has cost a fortune this summer in broken tech, plates, glasses, she simply wouldn't see that the glass was vulnerable and isn't good at avoiding accidents, plus dropping things is a daily occurrence. Also random bruises.

It really is frustrating! I don't know what you can do, except try to contain the dog and go easy on yourself, it doesn't even sound like you broke the bin anyway.

We have spent many hours in French Brico shops sourcing repair and replacement items for gites we've rented.
I usually take superglue and basic diy kit due to our usual clumsiness, but the day we walked through the gite door to be confronted by glass vases with silk flowers on every window sill and two foot high china dogs poised in front of the fire was a whole other level with an active 18 month. Dogs and vases lived way out of reach for the whole holiday, and thankfully survived, but we still had water leaking through the floor from the worn bath seal, roof slates crashing to the ground in stormy weather, washing machine leaking all over the kitchen, toilet overflowing (the septic tank needed attention, we didn't cause it!).
Cheese and wine in large quantities helped the situation.

@Mollythewally not a holiday let story but this might cheer you up.

DD2 is blind in one eye, has no depth perception and can fall over fresh air. Options evening at high school one year had a music meeting in the computer suite (no idea why!).

DD2 tripped over herself, bounced off a chair and landed on one of the wall mounted desks. She’s a tiny thing but the impact broke the desk and started a sort of domino effect. 6 Apple desktop computers, 3 laptops, 5 desks and 4 chairs were destroyed.

The teacher just sat there and sobbed. The next day DD2 was greeted by her year advisor and a very large roll of bubble wrap!

Yes, this is us OP.
Holiday with DDs when they were 2 and 3. I'd mine sweeped and was unloading the car, the DC had just been set loose, they went upstairs and managed to pull down half a curtain- snapping the non standard curtain hooks. Then one of them managed to, unintentionally, cartwheel down the stairs.
We fortunately found some replacement hooks 4 days in in an old fashioned hardware store. It was a miracle we could replace them.
That was a miserable holiday, it rained every single day and the house was older, cold with a damp problem, and a sofa that smelt of wet dog.

Another holiday, first night, I put the oven on to heat for dinner, opened the door and discovered that someone had left a black plastic chopping board in the oven. It had melted in a very artistic drippy way. I spent the first night scraping it off the wire rack in the garden. Replaced with a £2 Tesco, white, chopping board.

Oh god I forgot, same house as the chopping board, DD1 broke the swing, the wooden seat snapped. She was a slight wee thing 11 so it was just old.

Regardless of whether the accident was caused by a disability or not you’d have to be a special type of arse to come on this thread and tell off someone who has already said she’ll pay for the damage. I just can’t imagine what the prissy finger wagging posters are getting out of it.

My daughter has Tourette’s and when we walk into holiday cottages it’s like her tics go

woohoo, BREAKABLES!!!!

I put as much away as I can, but it’s inevitable that her dinner will be flung, or a drink will be tipped over. She had a karate chopping tic for a while which was fun when we stayed in an Air B&B at Alton Towers. Fortunately the placed seemed to be furnished from the local ASDA

Oh Jesus you’re me. 🙈

I’ve only realised very recently that it’s not normal for adult women to have legs that would rival a small child for number of bruises. Dh frequently asks how I got a certain bruise to receive the reply ‘oh I didn’t know I had a bruise there…’

My most recent and most annoying thing is forgetting I’m holding a cup (why is it always fucking coffee?!) and twice very recently I’ve leave over to put something down with a full fucking cup in my fucking hand. Coffee everywhere. The first time all over my legs, shoes and my bosses paperwork. Thankfully I have a very understanding boss…

Dh is always bemoaning my ‘balancing’ things which then inevitably fall but I honestly don’t realise until it’s too late…

And yes I’m like this everywhere, not just when it’s someone else’s stuff that might get broken/covered in the contents of my Klean Kanteen…

Not broken anything in 20 years of self catering....but we don't have a dog !!!!

So far it seems more doggo damage than your accidental one. I do sometimes find holiday lets have needlessly posh glasses and crockery which frightens me!
I become more clumsy the more worried I am about the items.
It’s also hard when you are away to keep the same habits like the wine glass would probably have been up high at home on a high coffee table but then you go away and they have different set up which can lead to a waggy spill.
My friend has MS and balance issues so she is over careful with what goes where and uses quite sturdy glasses etc but that’s at home you can’t really be as careful in new surroundings.