dreams (1)

i am in a modern, fairly ugly, pretentious house. it is large, furnished in a cluttered but expensive way. it is dirty and dusty and cobwebby. the woman of the house has a son with special needs and two older children. there is also a grandmother who is there most of the time. she is kindly but scatty. the woman has employed me to clean for her. her last cleaner left. she has taken me on for 2 hours a week.

when i turn up for the first week it is immediately clear that 2 hours will not make a dent in the dust. more will be needed. the grandmother shows me to the main bedroom where i am going to start. the mother is at work and the younger child is at school. the older daughter is somewhere else in the house. the bedroom is a mess. the curtains are drawn and i open them. there is one large bed and one medium one. on top of the beds are new sheets ready for the beds to be made. i notice that, although the smaller of the beds is made up in the traditional way, the larger bed is made up as 2 horizontal single beds, with odd soft toys in one. the room is furnished like an hotel but with modern faded style. brown wall paper and dust everywhere.

i strip the beds and find that one of the mattress buttons has come off. they are made of fancy bone like duffle coat toggles. i go down to the kitchen and ask the grandmother for a needle and thread to sew it back on. i take back up some pledge and jif and cloths. i make a start on cleaning the room but it becomes clear it will take a long time. there is dust everywhere. i hear the mother coming home and go down. i say that it is clear that 2 hours a week is not enough time to make a dent in the dust. it needs a spring clean which will take a couple of days and then 4 hours a week to keep on top of it. she says the previous cleaner only came for 2 hours and i point out that the previous one left. i say we will give it a try and if it doesn't work out then i can always leave. i go back up to the bathroom and squirt jif on the bath. i scrub it around and then leave it to work. i go back to the bedroom. the daughter has re-made the beds using the old sheets, roughly. she is in the smaller of the beds. i say i was going to change the sheets and that the new sheets had been left out by her mother. at this point the mother comes in and bustles around the room, changing her clothes and going into the en suite shower room. she is rushing to get somewhere. i start dusting the top of a bureau. it has large ornaments, some african heads and big candles. behind everything is more dust.

when i go down to the kitchen again the grandmother has lined up a lot of large items of furniture - tables, desks, good quality oak stuff but huge. she says these are for me. i say i probably don't have room even though they are lovely but as i say this i am looking at one large table and thinking how lovely it is. then i remember that our table was made for us my my husbands brother for a wedding present and there is no way we can replace it with another one. i say i will find homes for the furniture. it is hard to get across the kitchen to the back door there is so much furniture. i get out into the fresh air with a feeling of relief.