It happens every time my husband takes a bath (he can’t get on with our admittedly eccentric shower). The bath mat is left stuck to the bottom of the bath, soaps and sponges sit in little puddles, and the window is left shut, successfully trapping the steam which clings to walls and window.
‘There’s no such thing as a bathroom-tidying fairy,’ I tell him every single time, but he knows better. There is. And I prove it every time because I am the bathroom-tidying fairy.
Likewise, if he plants anything in the garden, he does a great job and the plants usually flourish, but the empty plant pots are left to roll around the garden until they make their way under the beech hedge and become the problem of the garden-tidying fairy next door! (He now knows better than to leave my best spade or trowel stuck in the soil, but it was a hard-won battle!)
He has few other faults, though, apart, that is, from the annoying habit of almost closing the sliding door in the bathroom cabinet, and almost closing his sock drawer, but we’ll let that pass because his door/drawer-closing fairy has her own blind spots. Can’t think for the moment what they are, but I must have them. I think . . .
We all do it, don’t we? Leave the odd smelly sock crawling round the bedroom floor, with pyjamas or nightie to keep it company. We leave books resting unsteadily on the arms of chairs, and coffee mugs where they can be kicked over. Dirty plates are put on the spotless work surface where they can be seen by the universe instead of in the sink where they just might go unnoticed. Newspapers get recycled – but only if the newspaper-recycling fairy puts them in the recycling bin (having first retrieved them from among the kitchen waste, of course)!
But I’m really not talking untidiness here. I wouldn’t dare. There is a tidy person inside of me trying desperately to get out, but she doesn’t succeed too often. Thankfully, neither does the tidy person inside my feller, so we are very well matched, and, to be honest, most of the time, don’t even notice the other’s clutter.
No, what I’m talking about is taking other people for granted. Bathroom-gremlin takes it for granted that order will be restored before the next bath is taken, that discarded plant pots and empty compost bags will somehow disappear from the garden, that dirty socks will make their own way to the laundry bin. But the bottom line is that to assume that someone will tidy up after you is to assume that you have better things to do with your time. Which is not fair, and is only just acceptable if you actually pay someone to tidy up for you. Most of us bathroom-tidying fairies do it for free, but our day is coming, so be warned!
It happens every time my husband takes a bath (he can’t get on with our admittedly eccentric shower). The bath mat is left stuck to the bottom of the bath, soaps and sponges sit in little puddles, and the window is left shut, successfully trapping the steam which clings to walls and window. 
