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Years ago, my bathroom was a place of refuge. I would lie back in a hot bath and relax while black thoughts disappeared in a cloud of steam.
Teenagers, however, have turned my bathroom into some kind of nightmare. (If I can ever get into it, that is. Most of the time, I'm rattling at the door, pleading to be allowed in to brush my teeth.)
Nightmare features include:
1. Piles of wet towels on the floor
2. Discarded underwear on the floor
3. Splashes of shaving foam and/or eyeliner on the mirror
4. Bottles of Lynx shower gel everywhere (How many Lynx products does a teenage boy need?)
5. Empty bottles of shampoo in the cupboard (because, as a teenager, you never, ever put anything in the bin...
6. ...except for the shavings from eyeliner pencils that stick to the bottom, make unintended graffiti and have to be scrubbed off)
7. Hair (don't ask) everywhere
8. Half-empty cups of tea on the edge of the bath
9. Toothpaste stains on the blind (why? why, oh why?)
10. Deep indelible stains from hair dye on the floor
11. All useful equipment (tweezers, nail scissors) stuck behind the radiator
12. Empty toilet rolls behind the door
13. Small pieces of cotton wool, like snow, behind the basin
14. The soap holder full of water after the shower has been on, at full blast, for 10 minutes
15. Bits of glitter in the grouting
16. Wet guesswork on the skirting board behind the toilet
17. Strange toothbrushes that probably belong to whoever it was who last stayed overnight
18. The Sunday paper damply curled on the bathmat, now completely unreadable
19. A broken hook (Q: How many towels can you hang on the back of the door? A: Just keep cramming them on until the hook snaps)
20. Half a bathplug chain
Of course I would much, much rather have a house full of lovely teenagers than a long soak in a scented bath.
I think.
Does this sound horribly familiar? What's your top teen annoying bathroom trick?