I was catching up with a friend over a glass – or two – of red wine at our local establishment, and happened to mention I’d got a particular thrill this week when I bought my new vacuum cleaner. Sigh…I do live the high life here in the coastal reaches… but before you begin to think this is an OCD homage to dust reduction, I should put you right. If cleanliness is next to godliness, then I am not on my way to heaven just yet. Like most busy people, my home is not immaculate, and often untidy. Although now it is definitely no longer dusty.
I do however get a perverse pleasure from clean kitchens and bathrooms. So my worktops are scrubbed and my sink is shiny. I am also the only person I know who enjoys cleaning the loo. Since I live by myself, it’s probably just as well. I’m not sure I could cope with someone who left the seat up. Of course, this got me thinking about all the other things I like doing. Guilt-free pleasures. Small, and relatively harmless. Unless you happen to be a French macaroon, in which case you will only last as long as it takes me to open the patisserie box.
Modern life can be utterly rubbish. Being a grown up is hectic and complicated at times. The point is we all need some measure of escape once in a while. So it’s just as well I have an outlet or two. Some people take up macrame to give them peace and the ability to turn string into bad-taste wall hangings. Each to his own. As for me, I like reading crime fiction on holiday. Going for long walks along the shoreline where I live. Listening to the sparrows in my garden. Cloud-spotting on a sunny day. Eating Nougat while watching diet programmes on TV. The list is unlikely to cause alarm, though a psychiatrist may wonder about that last one! Now, where did I leave that toilet brush.
Pier Point 