How To Cope Without  Maid:

Believe  me , I  have  learnt  the  hard  way.  I’m   sure   most   of  you  can empathise with me on this one.

You   know   the   scenario   , busy   day   ahead , hairdresser , nails to be done, massage  to be squeezed  in  between  appointments  for lunch and coffee. On top of all that you have guests coming to the house  for  dinner ,   8pm  sharp  as  per  invitation.  Meanwhile   your   other   half   is   lording   it  up in the   sky   en- route  home from  yet another business trip.

You   awaken   ,   not   to  the gentle  tapping on your bedroom  door ,as is usual ,to be greeted   with your morning  tea/coffee/hot water with lemon or whatever is your fancy. No, you awaken to the shrill sound of your phone  ringing  and it’s only 8am.

You   answer ,  confused , irritated and slur your  ‘’Good Morning’’ .The day goes downhill from there.

Your  right  arm , your little treasure ,your  life-line is at the other end of the phone....and she’s sick  S.I.C.K ....she’s  SICK. ...Unfit for work, day off, cough. .splutter......Bye!

What to do? What to do?

Well   worry   no more,  Good  Ladies, help  is at hand. I have not  spent  so many  years reading advice from the world’s  greatest  ‘Finger- Waggers’ for nothing. In fact I now regard myself, in all modesty as almost their equal   when it comes to wagging   a confident finger- loath  as I am to blow my own trumpet.

CHOICES:

1/ Struggle to the kitchen and get yourself a warm drink, I recommend   an Irish coffee, with less of the coffee and more of the Irish. This should set you up nicely for the morning at least and give you some time to collect your thoughts.Go back to bed.This is a stressful situation and you need your rest.

A brief word of warning here though,when you finish making your Irish coffee ,be sure you put the cream back into the ‘fridge’ .A most unfortunate friend of mine forgot  and when she went to have her 3^rd or 4^th  warm drink ,the cat had helped himself to all the cream. This greatly exacerbated her already  dreadful  plight.

2/ Be   Pro-active,  basically get out of bed and try as best you can to cope.

On Being Pro-Active:

Keep   all   pre- arranged   appointments- You will benefit enormously  and really feel much  the better for this.

With regard to your dinner guests ,I have consulted  a  favourite book of mine ,  ‘’Cookery Illustrated and Household Management’ 1936 , written by  one of my tip top’ Finger-Waggers, the renowned journalist and cook  Elizabeth Craig .On the subject of  ‘Entertaining without a maid’  she states;

‘’Do not attempt at any time to entertain elaborately without the help  of  a maid. Give informal little parties like bridge and  tennis  parties ,and make it the fashion for guests to help themselves or each other. You will find your entertainment go well if they   strike   this  informal  note’’

‘’Do not have large cakes .Provide a good variety of the tiniest you can find, ones that can be easily slipped onto a saucer and so saving on washing up. There are many attractive kinds of biscuits you can choose as well’’

And one last word of warning from Mrs Craig  ‘ ’Whatever you skimp on, do not skimp on ice’’

I hope the above has been of some help.......

now I’m off to have an Irish coffee.