April 2019
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
MEREDITH and DISTRICT NEWS 9<br />
Musings of an Independent<br />
You would think that moving out of home would give you<br />
ample amounts of free time. Time saved from no longer<br />
needing to fight over the television or jostling for shower<br />
time. Time that you wouldn’t have to spend picking up after<br />
other people when your stubbornness lost out over your<br />
desire for order.<br />
Perhaps you would think that having your own home with<br />
just your partner would render you with hours to kill with<br />
very little cleaning because you’re both so tidy.<br />
You might think that now that you don’t catch up with four<br />
other people every night and hear about their day that you<br />
might have another solid hour under your belt to relax, read<br />
a book and think about thinking about landscaping<br />
But no. Those hours fill up. And with a new fulltime job<br />
with a considerable commute, those hours get absorbed<br />
quicker than you can recognise that you had them. And to<br />
be honest, what generally consumes those precious waking<br />
minutes is mostly cooking. And not things that you enjoy<br />
cooking either. More like wilted, floppy greens that have<br />
sat in the fridge since last Sunday that you bought with the<br />
intention of meal prepping. Meal prepping never takes up<br />
these hours.<br />
There’s also the cleaning. Because it turns out that two people<br />
can make quite a mess. Ironically, the mess breeds because<br />
you tell each other that you don’t make that many<br />
dishes or dirty that many clothes so you can afford to let it<br />
build up. Saving water is a perceived added bonus.<br />
Before you know it you’re up at five thirty in the morning<br />
rushing around trying to find a clean shirt and wondering if<br />
an ornate teacup is an appropriate vessel for instant oats.<br />
And going out to dinner suddenly becomes even more attractive.<br />
Paying for meals seems worth it just for the hasslefree<br />
experience of not having to do any dishes afterwards.<br />
Only your bank account doesn’t agree with you and judges<br />
your life choices. It also takes a lot longer than cooking at<br />
home.<br />
Weekends that you anticipated being free for leisurely<br />
activities are consumed by friends who want to see the<br />
new place. Which means more cleaning. Because nobody<br />
wants to look like they have been so busy that<br />
cleaning took a back foot.<br />
The gym no longer seems like a plausible idea because<br />
getting home twenty minutes before you need to go to<br />
bed is as undesirable as making yourself wilted stir fry.<br />
So instead you trap yourself in a cycle of ‘I’ll go tomorrow<br />
night’. But tomorrow night never comes and you eat<br />
a packet of Tim Tams and resign yourself to your new<br />
lazy life.<br />
Yes, time doesn’t seem to add up like it used to. But at<br />
least any future kids will help structure it. Right?<br />
Correction<br />
Gemma<br />
Vale to Mary Payne<br />
In the February edition of the<br />
Newsletter there was a Tribute<br />
to Mary Payne (Donahue) who<br />
died on January 8 <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
Mary had attended St Josephs<br />
School not Meredith State<br />
School as stated. Our sincere<br />
apologies for this error.<br />
Photo kindly supplied by<br />
Marg Cooper
Change language