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

[ledkr]

We are with pil at present and they are very sweet but so bloody uptight about everything.
Bil has been away for a week so he left car with pil so that it "wasn't left in the street" it has a steering lock on and fil takes it for a drive each day! The car is an old banger worth about two hundred quid.
Kids can't even eat a banana without a table cloth,mat and plate
Leaving the house to walk to shops is a major ordeal. Costs hats gloves change of shoes everything switched off at the wall last minute run upstairs for wallets. I could have been there and back.
So I'm asking you to entertain me with similar stories to help me through the day.

[FarelyKnuts]

They did the above for xmas dinner one year. No leftovers!!! We have had xmas dinner at ours ever since

[Vagaceratops]

My DGM Weighs her peas. She weighs out a precise amount, then weights the bag and writes on it how much is left.

[Sparklingbrook]

Do they think you are very wasteful Farely? We have a food waste caddy for the recycling and it gets filled up, my parents never have anything in theirs.

[RandallPinkFloyd]

Now XH has moved back in with his parents all spontaneity has gone from his life. He used to get so wound up by me and my maverick ways but not any more!

If we ever decided to go out he would always need to ask when, where and how mealtimes would be catered to. Each and every time I would say "can we not just decide that when we get hungry?". He would then do a run down of all the potential options available just to re-assure himself that panic wouldn't arise

His days now revolve around meals and the planning thereof. If he's here visiting DS he gets a phone call at about 2 o'clock asking if he'll be home for tea. If he says no, one is still made for him but plated up and left in the oven to be re-heated. He's 42!

The suggestion of him making his own is met with baffled silence.

[EggRules]

We will never, ever, ever, go on holiday together... with ils. The least relaxing experience of my life. Food and drink had to be taken at specific times and from the same four approved places for designated sustenance event - meals at hotel, 11ses, coffee and cake at 3pm, drink in an English bar . Obviously playing around the pool and on the beach were disprupted by frequent costume/outfit changes. They had never had drinks on the beautiful harbour front; despite going twice a year for more than 20 years. For 15 of those years, they stayed at the same hotel and even in the same room, despite not liking the food, location, pool, how run down it had become, etc.

Staying at their home is like entering a different space time continuum; one where Christmas dinner is cooked in October and frozen. This is cooked 'fresh' on Christmas eve, plated up and reheated in the microwave on CD. Plates are cleared IMMEDIATLY and then MIL must say 'there that doesn't take long, so much easy to do it right away' every time and you must agree woleheartedly. Don't say 'it would take the same time to clear away if you waited a little while'.

[HyvaPaiva]

I love this thread! My contribution is itineraries. My DP's father sends us a fully-detailed plan of any trip they make:

Depart home via taxi: 0600 hours (due to 0900 hours flight departure and necessity of 2hrs attendance prior)
Arrive LHR airport: circa 0630 hours. Proceed to baggage drop due to having checked-in via the internet. Our allocated seats are currently 21E and 21F (subject to change; attached is a photocopy of our check-in confirmation)
DEPART LHR 0900 on FLIGHT NUMBER xxxx, PLANE MODEL xxxx. ARRIVE PARIS CDG 1021 (SUBJECT TO CHANGE).
Our passport numbers: xxxxx
CRUCIAL: AIRLINE CONTACT INFO: xxxxx

Our insurance company telephone number: xxxxx
Our insurance policy details: xxxxx

Our hotel address, telephone number, email: xxxx (attached is a copy of our reservation email, a map of Paris, and key French phrases should you require to contact hotel). We will be collected by the owners, Claude and Jeanne, who have a dog.
CRUCIAL: THE BRITISH EMBASSY IN PARIS CONTACT INFO: xxxxxx


Depart hotel: 0800 hours via hotel transfer (at a cost of circa 15Euros, GBP12.17 subject to exchange rate fluctuation)

Arrive CDG airport: circa 0830 hours. Proceed to check-in. NOTA BENE: AT PRESENT WE HAVE NO SEAT NUMBERS TO PROVIDE YOU WITH.
DEPART CDG 1100. ARRIVE LHR 1221 (SUBJECT TO CHANGE).

On disembarking: to passport control and on to baggage claim. Please note, this can take some time due to volume of both baggage and passengers.
Arrival home: TBC upon sourcing a taxi.

[SauvignonBlanche]

MIL always cooks the joint the day before, lets in go cold in the kitchen overnight then re-heats it the following day. I've no idea why!

[MousyMouse]

my parents are obsessed with brands.
if a shop runs out of one thing in their brand a sustitute will not be bought even if it would mean roast dinner without gravy
and they are afraid to go hungry having grown up after the war when going hungry was normal. the tables a so full of stuff it is hard to stick to a normal size meal.

[FarelyKnuts]

Sparkling I am sure they do. They are agog at us saying things like what would you like for dinner to each other (dp and I) as they would have their meals planned a week in advance and carefully measured amounts of ingredients at the standby :o
We love winding them up with "dunno check the fridge and see what we can throw together"

[BooCanary]

My parents do the weighing thing. They buy me at, then weigh it all, then pack weighed portions into freezer bags, then into another freezer bag (just in case), then put all double bagged portions all together into one big bag. Each seperate bag is dated. It takes them bloody hours to put away their shopping.

They then need to wipe, wipe and thrice wipe any surface that the raw meat may possibly have touched - including distant part of the kitchen that apparently may have been splashed by flying chicken juice .

I try to remember if they've always been like this. I think maybe a bit, but have got worse since retirement.

[Sparklingbrook]

Farely. My DF thinks it's terrible that I ask the DC what they want for dinner. He says they should have what they are given.

Mum has a meal planner for the week. No deviations allowed.

[rechargemybatteries]

Hahaha we went to Dave and Jean for Christmas dinner this year. Jean counted the spuds and Brussel sprouts and stuffing balls.

Suffice to say her estimation of the appetites of 3 young men in their early 20's was slightly off. There was nothing left. Not even a cocktail sausage and they were hungry when we came home and i had to rustle up grub. I have been informed Christmas dinner better be here this year

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

Hyva - I'd like to go on holiday with your relatives. When we went with in-laws it caused me stress - they think things like check in times and the necessity of having tickets with you only apply to other people.

[rechargemybatteries]

Sauvignon - I can answer that!!!

If you are slicing a joint with an electric carving knife a la 1970-something, it is much easier to slice into thin slices when it is cold. And of course, the addition of hot gravy will warm the meat.

[TerraNotSoFirma]

Claude and jeanne who have a dog, brilliant. :)

[drjohnsonscat]

Hyva that's brilliant. Love the idea that you are on standby ready to update the itinerary with their inbound seat numbers once this data is available

I wonder if he is haunted by those announcements they used to make on R4 in the old days "this is a message for Clive Smith, thought to be on a motoring holiday on the Isle of Wight. Please make contact with St Whatnots Hospital in Kettering where your mother is dangerously ill".

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

I'm going to be like the people on this thread when I'm old, I can tell. I think I might be heading that way already (eyes meal plan...)

[Sparklingbrook]

There should be a C4 show where the vegetable counting meal planners have to live by the rules of the 'no idea' people for a week. And vice versa. I would watch that.

[NotMostPeople]

Another one is the kettle, it must only be filled for the precise number of cups of tea required. Ok - ish but when I was bottle feeding any of my three I'd fill it up to boil and then cool and before I knew it the water had be tipped away - I never understood that one.

[drjohnsonscat]

Sparklingbrook I'll send C4 a video of my week in Devon with dad and stepmum. That will save them on production costs.

[Sparklingbrook]

Another weird foible is not keeping beer/lager in the fridge. Warm lager anyone?

[Sparklingbrook]

drjohnson it would be a ratings hit.

[EggRules]

If you want a lift to the airport FIL would try to move heaven and earth to make sure he can take us (very kind). If flying to Europe, you must get to airport 6 hours before the flight.

Lack of slippers causes colds and sniffles