Not a housewife

Veronica Zundel admits her house is not tidy, but she still makes an effort to ensure people feel welcome in her home

Last Sunday we had friends round for dinner. I’ve been to their house for lunch; it was spacious and tasteful with a luxuriant garden and the lunch was delicious. So just to forestall any raised eyebrows, I said as I opened the door to them: “Welcome to our tip.” Our house is navigable, it’s not like poor old Polish refugee Edmund Trebus’ whom you may have seen on the TV series A Life of Grime in the late 90s, where he had collected so much clutter from tips and skips that he could only get in by using a ladder to a first-floor window. However, there are piles of books nearly halfway up the stairs, and nothing has been decorated for at least 15 years – some areas not for 35 years since we first moved in.