13May2025 Diary
I stopped by Aunt Margarets little house in Cheltenham to drop off some paperwork. We usually only meet at Christmas, but this time something urgent came up. She isnt in the best of health, though it has nothing to do with money. Im not a miser; I reckon a clean, orderly home is the foundation of a good life. You can live modestly, but the house still needs to be kept shipshape.
The walls are lined with countless dustcollectors. All manner of figurines, china sets and jars of marmalade are stacked in heaps of dozens. In the bathroom sits a cats litter trayAunt Margaret gives it a onceaweek wash. Rubbish is heaped right at her feet, and the flat reeked of sewage and rotting food.
She offered me a bite and began setting the table. As she arranged the plates I noticed they were grimy. While she was ladling soup from the pot, I fished antibacterial wipes from my bag and started wiping the forks. She caught me in the act. When I began poking at the food, Aunt Margaret asked, Arent you hungry, or do you not like it?
What could I have said? Have you ever found yourself in a similar spot, trying to keep things tidy while the world around you is in disarray?
Lesson learned: even when circumstances are messy, a little effort to maintain cleanliness reminds us that we still have agency over our own little corner of the world.
