I recently had the displeasure of entertaining a bad houseguest for a few days at my cottage. I was mildly offended until I realised that, perhaps, people these days just don’t know how to be good houseguests. We live in a world where affordable transport can take us just about anywhere, at any time; gone are the days when a little cold could promote a dinner guest into a houseguest for the next week. Today, we don’t invite friends to stay with us at our homes, country estates or summer houses for several days, weeks or months like the Victorians did and hence, we’ve lost the strict code of etiquette that allowed both parties to survive each other and come out as better friends than they were going in. Being ex urbis from my small hometown, I have many friends and family members that I don’t see very often because we have spread out all over the province and country. I have often wished I had the space to invite someone for an extended stay but it has become such an antiquated concept that I fear no one will take me up on the invitation once I do have the space, or I won’t want to see the ones that do for a long time afterwards. To avoid this prickly demise for myself, my friends and anyone else whom would like to bring back the tradition of houseguests, I offer the following modern tips for being a good houseguest. Continue reading →