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Q: My daughter’s friend, who has previously stayed with my daughter at my holiday house, is asking to stay for a weekend separately with her boyfriend. I’m not sure what to say. R.P., Wahroonga, NSW
A: Years ago, I borrowed a family friend’s holiday home for a weekend with a girlfriend and what we did in there, hooo boyyyy, it was not good: we lost two pieces from a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Dutch people ice-skating. We looked everywhere: under the couch, behind the bookshelf, inside the op-shop bowl filled with pebbles shaped like hearts. In the end, we just closed the puzzle box and hid it at the bottom of the board-game stack, but the friend must’ve tried to do the jigsaw because they never offered me the house again (we also spilled massage oil and hot candle wax all over the carpet, but it was the jigsaw pieces that got to them, I just know it).
So, because young, romantic couples get up to all kinds of mischief on a weekend away, maybe you should tell your daughter’s friend that you have a strict, family-only policy and unless your daughter’s going to be there, the holiday home is unavailable that weekend, and every other weekend for the term of your natural life.
The other option is to let her use the place but charge a small rental fee to cover damages, just in case they also decide to recklessly set up a jigsaw puzzle in a high-traffic area where someone’s bound to bump into a coffee table and knock pieces all over the floor.
And if she does use the house, explain the rules: no smoking, pets, parties, massage oil, candles or intimacy. They can stay up until 10pm, then straight to bed. Separate rooms. You’ll be checking on CCTV.
guru@goodweekend.com.au
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Danny Katz is a columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He writes the Modern Guru column in the Good Weekend magazine. He is also the author of the books Spit the Dummy, Dork Geek Jew and the Little Lunch series for kids.From our partners
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