Home or away Ð itÕs impossible to please everyone

Date Published: 20-Mar-2013

Did you ever wonder why we invest so much in our houses – and then lock them up to go away on holidays every time we get a week off?

Okay, perhaps it’s an exaggeration to suggest we pack the suitcases and head for sunny climes at the drop of a hat – but even when we have a few days away from work and find ourselves around the house, we don’t see it as a relaxing break.

That’s because you end up fixing the light or the shelf that was hanging by a thread for the previous three months or you end up painting the fence or just doing the things that don’t get done when work gets in the way.

You’ll also find that, if the two of you are home at the same time, it takes about 24 hours before you get on each other’s nerves to the point that you’d fight over who gets to go on the trip to the recycling centre.

Perhaps with tens of thousands now stuck in negative equity, the last thing they want is to be reminded of the millstone around their neck when they’re on a day off.

Unfortunately for them, holidays are not an option because if they don’t have the money for the mortgage, it’s unlikely they have the wherewithal to fly the family to France.

Hilton Hotels recently commissioned a survey on how much time off workers actually get each year – and the conclusion was that we only get eight ‘real’ days of leave because any additional time off is consumed by domestic chores and going to the doctor.

Despite workers having an average leave allowance of about 24 days a year, researchers concluded that the majority of that time is spent catching up on household chores, DIY projects or even doing the weekly food shop.

The study of 2,000 workers found that instead of relaxing, 40 per cent used some of their time off to catch up on those little jobs around the house, while almost a third took at least one day off each year to shop for birthday or Christmas presents.

About 31 per cent used leave days to attend medical appointments and 28 per cent took time off to catch up on household chores.

A quarter took days off to attend funerals or weddings with another 24 per cent using annual leave to look after children who were too ill to attend school or nursery. One in five made use of holiday allowance to go to their children’s school events.

But what is didn’t say is that – without wishing sick kids or school plays on anyone – the rest of these are seen as welcome distractions. Because you are simply not in the habit of sitting down in your own home during the day-time.

And if you yourself don’t feel guilty enough about that sort of lazing about in a building you’ll still be paying for past your own death, then as sure as eggs you’re living with someone who is happy to point that out to you.

Colleagues who’ve retired will tell you of the list of demands they are greeted with the moment the hangover ends from their going away party.

Even after they’ve finished their working lives and could theoretically get to live out their days in the home that they’ve spend the bulk of their income on, they are still whooshed out of the way so that they don’t get under anyone’s feet.

So you’ve got this house that you’ve slaved for throughout your working life, and you only get to use it as a bed and breakfast with limited access to the sitting room when there are important matches to be viewed.

You should really have put the new couch in the office so that at least you’d get to sit on it during your tea-break.

And then again, maybe that’s the way we’re programmed; imagine telling everyone that you’re spending your holidays doing nothing at home; think of the embarrassment for the kids who had to return to school with no tales of sunshine or swimming pools.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.