A friend of mine has always lived with either his mother, a mate of ours with OCD like cleaning tendencies or his girlfriend now wife. I like to wind him up by suggesting he’s had it easy, that he’s never done a days cleaning in his life. This is most likely an exaggeration, of course he will have had to clean up at home and at work he will have on multiple occasions but that knowledge of the likely truth doesn’t make my attempt at humour any less enjoyable. The reason I bring this up is because while I recognise the benefits of having a mother and have experienced girlfriends who pick after me, and me them, I am currently living the bachelor life and therefore am solely responsible for the state of my flat. It has been about eight months now living alone and generally over that time I have never let the place get too dirty or messy. That is subjective of course and I have no doubt the OCD like friend would first freak out before spend the greatest few hours of his life putting the place in order again.
Today then I decided to give the flat a good clean. I am going step by step because in truth I can’t be bothered and don’t have the time to do it all in one day. When you don’t really have anyone but yourself to keep the place clean and tidy for it is very easy to let everything slip and as I write that I am aware I can see an empty cardboard container which used to contain four little hipster beers I drank about a month ago. In truth it bothered me so little I didn’t even notice it. Dirt is one thing but mess like that, well it’s only cardboard and it’s only me, who cares. Today I decided to tackle the dirt though.
Bathrooms are deceptive when you’re not looking closely. The filth has a habit of sneaking up on you. Unless you’re cleaning your sink regularly for example, one day you’ll look at it properly and realise it’s filthy. When you’re just using the bath for a shower it can be the same thing. I won’t even go into the state of the toilet. As I read this I start to question whether guys are just disgusting. My OCD friend would beg to differ and it could just be one of those gender stereotypes but stereotypes when not created manipulate, can often come from somewhere that represents a truth of some kind. Boys are just icky. Full grown men, well let’s just call it being relaxed.
Anyway, it’s bathroom and kitchen down, tomorrow it’ll be living room and bedroom. Neither are overly dirty, they just need a tidy and a vacuum but to the untrained eye they would probably look worse than they are. There is something therapeutic about tidying and cleaning though. I actually quite enjoy it when I get into it. You’re cleansing the mind as much as scrubbing the floor. Okay mopping let’s be honest I didn’t scrub the floor. There is a lot of value is shifting the lethargy dirt and mess can bring and it’s a lethargy that is so easy to slip into and not notice has taken over. A little like the sink. Perhaps I should keep an eye on it a little more after all.
Observations and Misunderstandings 