Being houseproud can be such a pane

AlOT of readers like me, I’m sure, wouldn’t dream of going to the hairdresser’s without washing their hair first. However, I thought my friend Sarah had taken this a bit too far when I called in to see her the other day. Armed with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water, she was busy cleaning the last of her dozen or so windows. ‘Sarah, I thought that you were having new windows installed tomorrow. Did you cancel them?’ I inquired. ‘Oh no, the fitters are coming first thing in the morning,’ she replied. ‘But I don’t want them seeing the old ones in this state.’ Mrs Carol Casan, Tiverton, Devon.