Older folks and their endearing ways . Not.

[Nofeckingway]

Going on from a previous OP that said her ILs drive her insane with their narrow food choices, constant tea drinking and couch sitting .. what little harmless ways drive you mad ?
My father when I was younger and visiting with small DCs would come into the bedroom when he figured we had slept enough to squeegee and dry the windows of any condensation. Happened a lot as we often visited at Xmas time . Just because it was his habit every morning . Also wanted a dinner at 1pm despite us only getting around to brunch at 12. Would turn news on in middle of people talking . Hated anyone sitting in his chair .

But he redeemed himself as he was also a loving generous man and he and my mother would go shopping for nappies, wipes , food for our visits and pick up the tab for meals out .

Surely this is a joke?!

... again with the laundry bags, I've been taking a bag for dirty laundry on holiday for years.
I think it's a good idea, and assumed everyone did it.
Is it really a quirk only seen in the elderly?

Was she Italian? The Italians in my family would be the same. (They'd also chin you for the wholemeal spaghetti.)

They sell them in Primark. Maybe lots of elderly people get their holiday luggage there.

Oh, God, I'm only 48 and I'm already identifying with the 'older folks' described in your op @Nofeckingway . I'm doomed, aren't I?

My own dear older folks talk incessantly about their bell ringing adventures (when they're not glued to their phones).

That's not what I asked.
Also, they sell them everywhere. I got mine from John Lewis about 30 years ago

I see your laundry container (which I also take, btw), and raise you a full-sized kettle, tea pot and china mug. The ones in hotels are never big enough.

Laundry container? Don't you just use a plastic bag to separate dirty knickers from clean ones?

Truthfully, I find it quite sweet and comforting to think of my parents ways.
They are gone now but the number of reruns of the same programmes on UK TV gold they would watch I'm sure it was same three programmes over a over

When you hit your mid-50s you will be suddenly struck by the need to buy a laundry bag that zips into a pocket. It is hormonal, like the lone chin hair and as inescapable as the creaky knees. Sorry.

my mil (now 87 and in a care home with dementia) had the most enormous suitcase i have ever seen. There was almost enough room to sleep in it.

She travelled extensively once retired.

in would go a full size iron, heated curlers, hairdryer, breakfast cereal, tea bags, sugar, milk, bread, eggs and fruit and veg.

Logic being it would save her money instead of eating out.

and sh didn't do a micro wardrobe either.

obviously before restrictions

Sadly not, the quiche was hot therefore the plates needed to be hot.

But, now she is incapable of boiling a kettle, I miss these and many other whims. There was a lot of love in amongst the craziness!

I’d have wondered where the rest of the meal was as well even though I’ll deliberately and happily have a few days of vegetarian meals every week.

Chin you 🤣🤣🤣

My father is generally excellent, but he makes a performative virtue out of always buying the cheapest version of food. When he visits me he even boasts about it - "You won't be getting fancy food like this when you visit me, it'll be the basic stuff from Lidl, ha ha ha." So ill-mannered and disrespectful! And there's no need, he has enough income not to have to count pennies, and it's not as if I haven't told him, though I'm a bit soft and haven't resorted to, "Mum would haunt you if she knew you were offering visitors cheap biscuits and own brand breakfast cereal under her roof," or asking him if he's trying to put me off visiting him.

Once again my dear old Dad once told me to go home from his house as my DH would be coming home for his dinner. I told it was OK as we were having fresh pasta which takes 4 minutes . Pasta apparently is no dinner to offer a working man . He was not happy with me.

The teabag thing is because some of us oldies were brought up by parents who had had to make the tea ration last by reusing the tea. I still find it quite hard to allow a teabag per person.
Only take a plastic bag for dirty washing on holiday though!

My Dad died 3 years ago and I still miss the cantankerous old bugger like a physical ache. He was obsessed with watching the news, and every day when I got through the door at home, he'd ring to tell me some political news or outrage he'd heard that day. I swear he had a camera in my kitchen to know the second I got in. When he was dying and went into a hospice, I still had to warn the staff never to get into a political debate with him. I never thought I'd see the day when I missed talking politics

I always warm the plates, we have a warmer drawer and I bloody love it! I suspect some elderly people eat a bit slower so it stops their food going cold.

@Nofeckingway Also wanted a dinner at 1pm despite us only getting around to brunch at 12.

Whose house was this, yours or his? We fit in with the eating suggestions of whatever house we are at, and guests at ours do similar. If you stayed at my house and had a presumably substantial brunch at 12 I'd be a bit annoyed. 1pm is a normal lunchtime - if it doesn't suit you, eat breakfast earlier, or have a snack at 12 and then wait for lunch.

My plate-warming DMum (see above) is starting to lose her memory, and it breaks my heart to see it, so as much as her and DDad's funny little ways drive me potty, I dread the day they forget to warm the plates, or only put enough water in the kettle for 2 mugs even when there are other people there, or turn the router off at the wall when they go to bed.

@SwirlyGates It was my house , asked them to Sunday dinner but was told it had to be at 1pm . I learned to adapt accordingly. Difficult when teenagers didn't rise till 11am on weekends to have a full dinner 2 hours later . But as many have said , I'd love to have a 1pm dinner with my parents again .

I've always taken a big carrier bag or bin liner, depending how long I'm away for dirty washing, used to do this when daughters were small too.
Seems the sensible thing to do.
Our friends who are only a few years older always warm their plates so I warm theirs at ours but we would never bother with that on our own.
My FIL always had his own chair too but he was very old fashioned and would tell, not ask people to get out of it if they sat there. Different generations back then.

Ah ok, fair enough. Your house your rules! Though elderly people (if they were elderly at the time) do seem to like to eat earlier than younger ones.

That's why she is "well off"!