It seems as if I never move at a pace slower than a dead gallop. From the first second in the morning, when I climb out of bed, until the time at night when I drop off to sleep – wondering what jobs to do the next day – there is never a dull moment, dull or otherwise, that I can call my own. Keeping the house tidy and clean twelve hours a day, just in case we have an inspection is a hard job. I have discovered that housekeeping requires the use of all known muscles – and some which we have not yet developed – plus a considerable amount of intelligence and all of the virtues. Other jobs tax a number, or perhaps all, of these resources, but housekeeping is the only one that’s run on the basis of the 140 hour week.

Waking in the morning I have that awful feeling that I am in debt to the day. I have a terrible sense of urgency, a need to hurry because I know that, the minute I open my eyes, I’m behind with the work. Housekeeping is like owning money to a loan shark who charges one hundred per cent interest. You work all day to pay off the debt, and the minute you awaken the next day you find that you owe exactly as much as you did the day before!

Somehow is seems that one never catches up with the housework. My feet swell, my hands puff up and my back aches and at times my head spins - there is always something more to do. I wonder how I ever managed when I worked full time! Take this morning for instance; up at 7.30 am bathroom cleaned and scrubbed, bed made and then it was time to water the garden before the heat of the day. It’s hot today, very, very hot, up in the high 30’s. Because our watering system covers the lawns as well as the garden beds we have to water manually as we currently have water restrictions as lawn watering has been banned. So for an hour this morning I watered and watered the front garden and then for another hour I watered and watered the back garden. I was finally back in the house at 10.00 am by which time the washing machine had finished its cycle and it was time to hang out the washing. The cat needed feeding and watering and then it was time to clean the other bathrooms, wash floors, clean the kitchen and hoover through. After a quick coffee it was time to prepare the dinner. It is now 1.00 pm and there is still much to do! I have the patio to sweep, the outside windows and furniture to wash but it’s far too hot for any of those jobs. The wind is extremely high today and the gums have decided to shed as many leaves as they can which all fall in the direction of the pool - another job and as for the driveway, well let’s say that will be a job for tomorrow! Fortunately, I can’t find any more urgent housework to do so I’ve settled down at this computer to write.

The house is peaceful and the dogs are asleep at my feet gently snoring. I am awaiting the return of my grandson Devon, who will spend the next few days with me. A hush will still preside over the house when Devon sweeps in for all of fifteen minutes or so - he’s a wonderful, quiet, polite little boy but then bhe seemingly erupts with a loud explosion and life gets more than hectic. Things change quite a bit when Devon is around as one constantly has to stop, sit, play, read and feed him. Devon roars around the house with all the grace of a stampeding elephant. In reality, he is nothing more but a self-propelled appetite with a seemingly insatiable craving for food, information and attention! Life is never peaceful and quiet. At the moment at the age of four he is a Harry Potter fanatic. He has a very good memory and can recite all the magic spells he’s seen on two of the movies. Sticks become wands, the household broom can fly, a dark towel becomes his cloak and at times I am sure he lives in a very different world from us ordinary mortals. Send him into the garden and he disappears with the two dogs into nooks and crannies. I can never relax when he is in the garden as we have a pool and yes it is fully fenced but I always worry that somehow and in someway he will magic himself into the pool area - after all my son Geoffrey, when he was four, managed to open the pool gate by standing on his push along car!