1 week Ago By Pravina-rudra
It only takes one person. One brave soul to speak out, dragging an uncomfortable subject into the open, in a way that all of humanity will benefit from. This week Joe Thomas from The Inbetweeners is that courageous pioneer, venting his frustration at living with a partner who “won’t put things in specific places”.
Many of us probably experienced a shudder of recognition when hearing that, because Joe is, sadly, far from alone.Speaking on The Buckleys, the podcast of former co-star James Buckley and his wife Clair, Joe explained his issue with girlfriend of 15 years, actress Hannah Tointon.if(window.
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’ But I’m like, ‘It would help me if there was a starting point.’”“When you go on Google, it works because they’ve organised it, they don’t go, ‘Oh it’s all on there somewhere, have a root around.’”Preaching further to some of our choirs, he added: “The starting point cannot be, ‘It could be literally anywhere’.
.. Human beings are fallible, we forget things, that’s why we have systems.
“A system is an unsexy term, but it takes responsibility away from the individual...
we’re going to forget things but let’s have a place where it goes. Like passports for example. You don’t just have them somewhere in the house.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l1"}); }No of course you don’t Joe, you have them in a specially designated drawer unless you are genuinely a monster.Herein lies the problem. When making a list of attributes and qualities we would like our future partners to have, most of us don’t consider whether we want to be with someone neat and organised, or messy, chaotic and completely wrong.
And by some strange quirk of nature, this appears to be an area where opposites most definitely attract. Think of every couple you know. If you needed some string when you were at their home, there would be one of them that you would instinctively ask for it and another who you’d be certain wouldn’t have a clue where it is, or even if they have any.
Never mind physics, this is the String Theory that matters.My dad’s catchphrase was: “If you put it back in its proper place, you’ll know where it is the next time you need it.” Never has a truer word been spoken, and yet it fell on deaf ears if my mum was around with her more, shall we say, relaxed approach to housekeeping.
She wasn’t being untidy and disorganised to spite him, more in spite of him. None of it registered, let alone mattered; his catchphrase was white noise to her. She didn’t notice that the passports had a home, which is why she regularly evicted them from it.
I wish I could tell you I’d broken the cycle, but I recently spent over 10 minutes looking for the sellotape, and when I found it – insult to injury – the end wasn’t folded over. Of course I took this as an act of aggression, a hate crime. And obviously my husband was bemused, asked where he was meant to have put it, and didn’t listen to the reply.
Us Neat and Tidys get a bad rap, we’re seen as uptight, anal, no fun. When actually we’re the ones making sure that the fun can happen, because we know where whatever you need to use to have the fun is, as we put it back the last time. And usually, it’s not just our tasks that are thankless, it’s our entire life’s work.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l2"}); }#color-context-related-article-3649590 {--inews-color-primary: #3759B7;--inews-color-secondary: #EFF2FA;--inews-color-tertiary: #3759B7;} Read Next square POLLY HUDSON Your friend owes you just over a tenner - here's how to get it backRead MoreMy husband does all of the cooking in our house, often getting rapturous rounds of applause when he brings whatever he’s made to the table. To create his masterpieces he will always use every single pot, pan and culinary gadget we own, which I will then clean and place back where they go. The amount of standing ovations I have received for this? Nil.
I accept that this is the lot of the Neat and Tidys though, we don’t do it for the acclaim. We do it because without us, the whole world would fall apart. And no one would be able to find the sellotape to put it back together.
Joe Thomas says that “system” is an unsexy term, I very much beg to differ. Serious suggestion to lower the divorce rate: make opinions on tidiness a dating app category from now on..
