The Sneddons
JOHN and Chrissy’s gleaming white kitchen and bathroom surfaces in their spotless bungalow are so bright, you could see them from the Moon.
But keeping a house that sparkling is a full-time job – on top of the one Chrissy already has working for the NHS.
Not only that, Chrissy also looks after her 86-year-old father Arthur, who came to live with them in St Agnes, Cornwall, after her mum, who had Alzheimer’s, died two years ago during Covid.
“I was adopted,” she explains. “And I’m so grateful to my parents for bringing me up, and I promised my mum before she was taken away in an ambulance that I would always look after Dad.”
This extra workload is one Chrissy, 55, gladly shoulders but she also worries if anything happens to her, would John be able to cope?
Not from where he’s usually found – which is in the pub.
“You could eat your dinner off my toilet seat,” Chrissy says proudly. But adds: “I’ve made a rod for my own back.”
Chrissy admits she had to housetrain her 54-year-old husband, who unsurprisingly was single for 30 years before they met. But at the heart of her over-enthusiastic use of the bleach bottle is a sad story of being badly treated in a past relationship and, although John is about as useful as a chocolate teapot, he’s a funny and kind man.
“Something’s got to change,” says Chrissy, who at first doesn’t realise that also means lowering her incredibly high standards of cleanliness to mere mortal level.
John is left to wonder at the big questions in life like – how many matching pillowcases do they own? And how can anyone tell if a duvet cover is inside out?
“It’s just so much work,” sighs John, who even had to go to the chippy to pick up tea for him and Arthur without diverting to the pub for his usual pint. Arthur and John look so lost without Chrissy. It’s not deep cleaning that keeps a family together – but deep
love for each other.