Waiting for the Cleaner
Is it really Wednesday again?!
It’s 11.30 a.m., Wednesday. I wait. I’m at my desk, trying to work. But I can’t focus. Why? Because of Kate, my cleaner. She will be here in two hours. Right now I’m still in my pyjamas (the best part of working from home, right?). Grudgingly, I’ll have to get dressed before she turns up. And I guess I’d better put on a splash of makeup too. Don’t want to scare her away after all.
Tick tock. I stare at the screen. Usually, I’d be all chilled in my PJs, fluffy socks on my feet, blissfully ignoring the dishes in the kitchen sink and the mess on the worktop, and I couldn’t care less. I’d be in my happy place (at my desk!), with my soy latte, Jazz FM playing softly in the background, and typing away. Driven by unbridled creativity, for sure.
But not on Wednesdays. Oh, no. Wednesdays are different. I can’t just get up, make my coffee and shuffle into my office without worrying about any mess left behind in the kitchen. No, on Wednesdays, I get up, sigh, tidy the kitchen, clear the sink, make the place look like I have my shit together, and then sit in my office feeling uncomfortable until 1.30 p.m.
I don’t like having someone in my home, my sanctuary. But it turned out I like cleaning even less (funny that) and decided it’s best for my mental health to let an expert take care of it rather than constantly stare at the mess and lament my hopeless cleaning efforts. Tidy home, tidy mind, right?
So anyway, here I am. It’s 11.44 a.m. now. Tick tock. I guess I’ll sit here another hour, pretending to work, before grabbing a quick lunch, making sure I put the dishes away afterwards (after all, the house has to be clean for the cleaner!) and then waiting anxiously for my weekly helper-cum-disturbance.
For the two hours while Kate is here, I usually ‘take a break’ outside with the dogs. Taking a break from doing nothing, yup, that’s my Wednesdays in a nutshell.
But once my cleaner leaves, I’m unstoppable! Oh, you should watch me go! As soon as the door closes behind dear Kate, I do a little dance, the ‘proper’ clothes go in the laundry, out come the fresh PJs and fluffy socks, and I dash to my PC! Yes, at this point, I feel so charged and back in my element, I’m virtually running.
Here come the words, typing away like a madwoman, nothing can stop me now! My introvert sanity has been restored, my house is clean, I’m alone again. Time to get productive — until next Wednesday.
