TV policy in PILs house drove me up the wall

[festiveflashingmammaries]

we stayed at PILs house over xmas for 2 days and had a lovely time

but

The TV is on all the time with 2 options

Either the TV is on full blast with nobody watching it so nobody can hear anyone else talking.

or

We all sit down and watch something and everybody talks over the TV and it is impossible to hear what is going on.

You must understand that this is a policy established over many years and is not open to Negotiation (thorny subject)

Furthermore ..... the cats and dogs are allowed to sit ON the table while we are eating and scavenge to their hearts' content .............

also a non negotiable policy

Infuriating!

As a cat lover, cats on the table?.eeeeeeeuuuuuuuggggggghhhhhh!

For the TV thing if anyone finds a cure can you please send it to me?
OH is obsessed, first thing he does when he walks in to the house is turn on the TV, wouldn?t mind as much if he watched it, but he then has a tendency to put on the ?puter and be on ebay etc.
So we spend at least 50% of any film arguing, as he will do the usual who?s he?
Why is he doing that?
I pause it to answer, he tells me not to pause it; seems to think that we?ll miss something if we pause it. .
I answer, and tell him to watch, 10 minutes later same thing, after about 20 minutes of film & an hour of watching/fighting, I lose interest in the film and leave the room and end up either recording it and watching alone or buy the book.

Not to mention the waste of electricity.

There?s only the 2 of us, but we have 5 TV?s, I?m waiting for him to suggest one in the bathroom.

my PILs are the opposite - no TV on AT ALL when we visit - even if it's a programme we ALL want to watch. there have been times when we sit there in the eve with nothing much to say, with their recorder whirring away, and knowing that ours back home is doing the same - after 2 or 3 days together, it would be nice to watch a programme then have something to chat about.

and, no, we're not allowed to go out either.

I stayed at my mate's house recently, and she had the TV on loud all evening, I can't stand it, it gave me a headache so I went to bed early

She left the room at one point so I quickly turned it down a bit. When she came back, after about 5 minutes, she frowned and turned it back up.

Not allowed out at all? I would rebel at that and announce that I was going out for a walk. I wouldn't let anyone keep me prisoner in their house. Luckily all relatives like to go out for walks/ sledging etc.
If something you all want to watch why not just say "I can see you're recording x, how about we all watch it together?" especially if slow conversation.
We tend to play alot of games when together. I find my husband's family harder as no games, although they live nearer so we rarely have to stay overnight.

I don't mind the TV being on but can't bear it being loud. PIL occasionally put the TV in the dining room on for the news when we have lunch. My chair is infront of the TV and it's so loud I swear my hair flutters and it renders me incapable of hearing/participating in the conversation. And the rest of the family staring past me is disconcerting.

kickassangel - pil are also odd about us leaving the house. They live in a seaside town with loads of stuff for the kids to do in the big wide world outside but they still go " but why" if we say we're leaving the house for any reason. They've even claimed there's no soft play or park areas in the whole of their town to prevent us leaving.

Generally I think it´s rude to have TV on if you have guests.

But for example my Dad is here for three weeks so the TV doesn´t stay off for all that time.

Cats joining in with meals-yeugh!

Fil has tv on constantly too, even when we're sitting talking so it's impossible to either hold conversation or watch tv, like in OP. Plus, he has tv on constantly in kitchen too, and this has 1 second or so delay, so you hear a distant echo to the programme you're 'watching', or you have an annoying alternative dialogue alongside what you're trying to watch.

Dh & sil have inherited annoying tv overload, but we only have 1 tv in sitting room, none in kitchen and none in bedrooms.

In laws also allergic to opening windows and fresh air

What is it when people seem to have to have the bloody tv on all the time! Does my head in if I go to visit someone and they never turn the thing off.

Animals on the table at any point is vile.

A few days over Christmas is a long time to stay with relatives and not watch any tv at all. I would go barmy if there weren't breaks where we all sat down and watched something seasonal.

However if it is on really loud ask for subtitles and then say gosh it's really loud and turn it down.

I come from a tv on all the time family with several partially deaf members so can happily say:

SUbtitles are your best ever friend.

But I also like having the tv on and watching it. Tough cookies.

(not all the time)

cats on table thats disgusting our cat gets chased shut out of the room whilst were eating can't stand animals that beg for food.
TV gets turned down if we have visitors unless its something we all want to watch.