Tidy

– Shouldn't you be packing or something?
– Sorry?
– If you're going home tomorrow. The end of the holiday, and all that.
– I suppose so. But it's late, and hard to drum up any enthusiasm.
– And will it be any easier tomorrow morning, when you realise that there is a mountain of work to be done and very little time to do it?
– Well, I am sure that the usual fight-or-flight survival instinct will kick in. In fact, it is probably best not to overthink these things and try to plan every minute detail, but simply go with the flow. As they say.
– I thought you prided yourself on being well organised and not leaving anything to chance?
– I know... But I am trying to cultivate a more relaxed, more happy-go-lucky persona; to be someone who just takes life as it comes. What's the worse that can happen?
– You'll still be defrosting the fridge tomorrow when it's time to leave the holiday house.
– I wasn't planning on defrosting the fridge.
– You'll be telling me next that you're not going to be shampooing the carpets.
– It's only a holiday home. I've only been here a week. Shampooing the carpets take forever.
– So better get started.
– Do you always shampoo the carpets at the end of a holiday?
– I just make sure I never step on them in the first place.

Vacation

– Where were you?
– Sorry?
– You just disappear. For long of periods of time.
– Sorry. Things to do. You know how it is.
– I know how it is with most people ‐ they lead hectic lives, always on the go, no time to take a breather ‐ but you?
– I am busy too, you know: I have a moderately hectic life. I am occasionally on the go.
– Only occasionally, from what I see.
– Well, I just like to move at my own pace. But when things get in the way of my normal routine and pile up around me, well, then you could say life is becoming hectic. By my standards.
– So what has prompted this unexpected literary outburst?
– I kept meaning to, but never got round to it. I started taking a train to work some months ago, and discovered that I had the time to write short and pithy diary entries on my phone.
– But not blog posts?
– I'm sure it's possible; I just haven't tried. I quite like having a proper keyboard rather than having to write everything with two thumbs.
– Two thumbs?
– To be honest, mainly one thumb. The other seems very inaccurate for some reason. Whereas at the moment I'm on holiday, so can take some time out to thump away at the laptop.
– Doesn't sound a very exciting holiday.
– I have been doing other things, not just writing this. But mainly this.

– By the way, is the photograph relevant to the matter in hand, or just entirely random?
– I think it is entirely random.
– At least some things never change.

Lily

– A New Year. Looks suspiciously like the last one.
– Have you any interesting traditions to mark the occasion?
– Every January 1st, without fail, I put up a new calendar.
– I think many people do that.
– Do they? Even in this digitised world we live in, do they still hang calendars on the wall? Instead of iPads?
– Perhaps some people hang iPads. What calendar have you gone for?
– Monet. I fancied a touch of Impressionism to help me destress.
– Not kittens, then?
– I prefer the great artists. And Monet wasn't very much in to kittens.
– And was that the extent of your New Year celebrations?
– Pretty much. I lead a quiet life.