niggling, or “The German way of smalltalk”

I must have mentioned somewhere that my wives grandaunt is here for some days, while I was in Cyprus. She is approaching an age of 80 and spend her childhood in a time most Germans do not like to speak about. She seems formed by this time, at least that is my impression. Everything she sees is bad compared to “the old times” and nothing is good enough for her standards. The chicken my wive baked for her was too bloody, our home is too dirty and too small, the stairs are also too dirty, why haven’t we complained about that? The drain smells and is too slow, the light is not enough. Our son gets too much attention, and my wife can’t cook. Everything has to be like in Germany, otherwise it is bad. Of course there are also good sights, eg. she can’t sit a minute without doing nothing. So she ironed, almost, everything I had, cleans our home every day, makes food and cleans it up. Goes out with our son and does not save us from her “wisdom” about almost anything. A classic old German. Tomorrow is her last day with us, then we will decline to our decadent old, dirty and ignorant way of living.