How to become terribly popular, then survive the ensuing full house….
Move to the centre of Edinburgh. Open your doors to friends visiting the Edinburgh Festival. It’s amazing how loved we now feel!
We are lucky enough in this posting to have a home with room to fit in lots of friends, family and military colleagues.
How to fit everyone in and keep the children/spouse/dog happy is a different matter! But with a little forward planning … it can all run smoothly. Here are my top tips for surviving a houseful of Festival guests.
Eating
Breakfast for everyone is a case of help yourself – no slaving over bacon and sausage here. I’m also a huge fan of suggesting that guests explore as much of the city as they can during the day, leaving just one evening meal for me to cook. If, as a host, you aren’t then happy to dish out large quantities of chilli, curry, shepherds pie, carbonara, chicken pie etc and feel the need to be more spectacular – then I applaud you. If you can’t face cooking at all, COOK (www.cookfood.net) can home deliver their entertainment sized frozen ready meals. You can admit you didn’t make it or bluff your way through! Either way I find them a saviour at all times in need of sanity and time.
Washing
We may have a few bathrooms but running one bath/shower at a time in this household is imperative! Combi boiler? Hot water on tap? Not in our house… but with a bit of organisation and adhering to the house “rules” the system can cope fine.
Sleeping
Bedding for sixteen people, when only three of them can be realistically put in a sleeping bag, does have its challenges. However, I discovered Soak & Sleep (www.soakandsleep.com) a few years ago. Not only are their products good quality and good value, but the joy of their All Seasons duvets means that during the Summer you can use the two 9 and 4.5 tog separate layers, along with a blanket, and seemingly have endless bedding. We don’t often get 4.5 tog only living in Scotland, but with sixteen people staying, the house seems pretty snug!
Our Festival may have been busy, but now it’s nearly over, I’ll feel a little bereft once everyone has gone….
Caroline.
Feeling the same sense of upheaval over your house move or declutter? Get in touch with me for an informal chat about how I can help with the logistics.
(Image by Luxstorm from Pixabay)