Job done!

Now, there are plenty of things that I can do that, when I do them, I do them very well. And there are also lots of other jobs, like cleaning the bathroom, where I'm repeatedly surprised by how quickly a (thorough) job can be done. But if there was an Olympic category for procrastination, they'd be testing me for performance enhancing drugs.

And my procrastination is aggravated when there are a lot of jobs to do. The situation is often rescued by a to do list but if there are lots of jobs, especially lots of little jobs, then sometimes I can't even face a to do list. Hence the fact that several weeks after moving in, there are still boxes of stuff lying around the house.

Tonight, though, I had guests. This meant that I *had* to tidy the house. Any tendency to stand, staring, daunted by the clutter was curbed by the presence of the Minx, who was cooking up a (Greek-oriented) storm in the kitchen. This meant that my usual behaviour - e.g. open a box, find a magazine with a Nick Cave interview from 1997, sit down, read - was left simmering and frustrated just below the surface while I actually got on with finding homes for things and clearing the decks.

By seven pm, the living room looked entirely presentable, wine was warming in front of the fire, and so I sat down on the sofa with my book and looked around, clutter-filters cautiously removed. And lo, all was tidy.

I'm happy to say that we had a splendid evening. The company was great, the food was amazing and I was so distracted that I forgot to take a photo...

Fortunately, I'd put my new duvet cover on, earlier, and - OF COURSE - posted a photo of it to Instagram. So, by the skin of my teeth, here is my photo for today.