Having done quite a few sits now, I’m compiling a list of elements which seem inevitable. Here are a few:-
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The HO will always have one more cup or glass than there is room for in the relevant cupboard
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However long you hover around the dog poo bin, the dog will always wait to take a long, luxurious dump at the point that is the furthest possible from the bin on any given walk
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This will always be on grass, despite the fact you’ve been praying all along for it to happen on a nice, hard surface and thus be easy to pick up.
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Whenever you remember the cat needs a dose of medication, the cat will be invisible.
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There is only one herb or flavouring you ever use. It will be the one the HO doesn’t have.
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The one time the dog has puked in the hallway, the cat is going five rounds with a baby rat on the stairs, there’s a mysterious smell of burning and you’re running about in your pyjamas whimpering… There will be a delivery which has to be signed for.
Anyone observed any others?
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Yeah, the vacuum cleaner and cleaning supplies are stored in various random, non-obvious locations and the vacuum cleaner needs emptying and is missing half its attachments.
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Love it! Whatever obscure kitchen utensil I’m looking for in a new kitchen, will always be in the last drawer I check.
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When it comes to cleaning, there will always be two spray-bottles of glass cleaner at the front of the supplies cupboard. There will be zero bottles of general spray-cleaner.
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It takes 20 pics of the dog or cat just to get one decent one of them looking at the camera.
It’s been sunny all day but when you finally decide to go for a walk it starts to rain.
It is always raining on the last day when you’re trying to dry laundry and pack up the car.
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Had a power cut followed by limited electrical circuitry..no power in bathroom or bedroom . Guess where rechargeable vacuum was installed! Saved the powered up vacuuming for the last minute!
Lost the central heating in a UK winter with snow on the ground.. had to restart the boiler in a jam packed garage with two vintage cars a Rolls and a Jag. Squeezed my way there to the far corner.. stretched to reach the button. Activated it with the longest key on the bunch!
No plumber call out required. Local hero!
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Got another example last night - might be a bit gross for some! Can floss every night for a month without a splatter. But the last night before the end of a housesit, there will be a floss splatter against the mirror. Go figure. 
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So many of the above resonate, especially the utensils and herbs. Actually took a box of cooking herbs to the last sit 
Others I can add to the mix…
- First day the dog gets the runs (separation anxiety) and it has long /curly furr, which needs help cleaning before going into other rooms of the house. Lesson learned: Carry bottle of water and baby wipes at all times.
- Cat sits in rural areas become acquainted fast and want to bring gifts from the field to you. Lesson learned: Put toys near the door to distract cat from bringing dead field mice into the house.
- Have a pet sit booked in. A thing you’ve been looking forward to happens smack bang in the middle of the sit duration. Lesson learned: Sod’s law of sitting will happen.
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Yes the shaggy dog with the diarhoea … this definitely resonates! When you’re the last to notice and the dog has freedom of beds sofas inside and out of the property..
going to be much stricter when I get my own! lol
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Last day of the sit , we about to hit the road with a four hour drive home . Everything has been cleaned and all our belongs packed into the car .
Shutting the front door , when the kitty sneaks past and she won’t come back in .
She’s hiding in the bushes close to the door , but just out of reach . Of course she knows exactly what is going on and how to keep us here longer 
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My usual findings are that cleaning products are all empty or the hoover has useless suction or no battery for those that are cordless. Happens at each sit!
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Yes really poor vacuum. That’s happened twice to me. One time the guy was recently widowed and not coping with the pup his son had bought him to get over his loss more quickly.. nor was he keeping up with the cleaning. In the Welcome Guide he’d put “ dado what you can with the cleaning. I’m not great at it myself.. “ very self effacing.
So I asked the lovely dog owner next door, whom we got on famously from the start. “ Can I borrow your Hoover? I want to give the place a spring clean and the present Hoover is rubbish. She kindly lent it to me. I moved the sofas and got it sparkling.
I bought the kind neighbour a gift. She said “ when you’re next in the area, come and stay with me!”
Sometimes Sod’s Law can be reversed!
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A note re vacuums - on sits where the beats-as-it-sweeps-as-it-cleans (am I showing my age here?) vacuum isn’t performing well, I’ve found the rotating brushes to be completely clogged with (usually) hair. An easy fix for an easier clean.
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The kitchen cabinets are high gloss and you spend the whole time trying to remove finger marks.
And on day two a mysterious chip appears somewhere you hadn’t noticed before and you don’t think you caused it but you can’t be 100% sure.
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I had to clean up a kitchen with black units.. they showed every fingerprint, Border Collie paw mark etc.. Even before the home Owners left I realized this wasn’t a practical choice but they were having to live with it.
I left it to the last day to do all the cabinets and kept the dogs outside in the garden! I definitely left the place cleaner than I found it. But too much panic and toil on the last day!
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New fangled mops… my bug bear at the moment. And I always find out that I can’t work out how to use them on the last day while prepping the house for the owners return.
Spray then mop?
Mop gets too wet, how is it squeezed dry?
Pull out mop handles that won’t stay pulled out
Hidden mop cupboards
Electric mops???
Please folks, a mop and bucket is all I need.
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You haven’t needed to use the train during the sit but the day you have to transfer from one sit to the next, for back to back sits, British Rail goes on strike & there is no bus service to get you there!
You drop your mobile phone in the toilet when you forget it’s in your back pocket, and drying it rice doesn’t work, and you are staying in a small rural village a long way from anywhere that sells phones, and you have no car, and the 2 hourly bus isn’t running because it’s Sunday! Thankfully Samsung deliver just as quickly in the UK as they do in Australia for online orders!
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The bagless vacuum is full, or nearly full, I can’t figure out how to take it apart, and don’t want to break anything, so I have to leave it full of dirt & pet fur.
Where the heck are the [insert random utensil] – don’t these people COOK??
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I once took on vacuum apart ( think Humpty Dumpty post fall) and couldn’t get it back together again. So I left it. Why break it I thought. On the Home Owner’s return she quickly put it together herself. I hoovered up the rest of the house the following day so no problem.
On another occasion another Hoover same problem I left it apart too. Fortunately she had a back up and I used that , again rather than damage the other.
I will eat off plastic plates and drink from mugs if available ( or I’ve brought my own in my Campervan) rather than risk china and glass damage.. I’m walking on eggshells more than sunshine on sits! But I relax better that way!
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