My flatmate and I have been housekeeper-less since our last one got curiously pissed, threw her cellphone at us, and stormed out.

So, I have been learning to clean. Things. Cleaning things is fun. I don't get very far in a single bout, however. I prefer to take little tasks, one day at a time.

I'm very good at vaccumning, I find. I only vaccumn a corner at a time, but I'm very, very careful to go over every surface. Little things collect in gaps in the parquet or under the mouldings. Sometimes I think I find things that have been there for a long, long time, perhaps even before we moved in, or maybe even before I was born. After I finish a corner, I generally stop, and leave the vaccumn cleaner where I stopped, so it will be handy for when I decide to move on the next time. This bothers my flatmate. But it's sort of like a pool-cleaning robot, just in slow motion.

This week, I also ironed two shirts, all by myself. If anyone has advice on this, I would love to hear it. I think I remember hearing something about doing the sleeves either first, or last. But how long should it take? I spent half an hour, and had results that were markedly better than when I started. I would not wear the shirts I ironed to work, but I like to hang them in my closet and look at them and remind myself that they do look better than when they came out of the washing machine.