A taste of empty nesting

With Ottawacker Jr. being invited to an after-school visit to his friend W., Mrs. Ottawacker and I were in the unusual position of not having any responsibilities once the work day had finished. (I say "work day", but it has been so long since I have had any work come in that I am half thinking about looking for a government job.) This must be what empty nesters feel like all the time. To be honest, I don't like it.

I mean, where is the hustle and bustle? Where are the "make sure you put that away when you have finished with it"s? Where is the race against time to make sure people are fed with enough time to properly digest before a 6-o'clock soccer practice? What do people DO with all this time?

If you are like me, you sit on the sofa feeling useless. Mrs. Ottawacker at least had the nous to get on with something (also essentially useless, but she was at least active). I'm nearly two months into my Dry 2023, so I couldn't even have an apéritif. This sucks.