Clean Start to 2021

Clean Start to 2021

Are you soaking up the days of the fresh year before reality and normality kicks in for 2021? Every day at our house is spent trying to read, watch TV, walk the dogs and just generally faffing about.

I have always been talented at faffing and luckily my children seemed to have inherited this ability to just stay home and nest. Sunset is punctuated by happy hour at the beach and we all stay up late watching TV. Holiday bliss. I mean it is not all perfect families let me tell you as there is also that sinking feeling that busy is about to come knocking at my door and it is time to stop pretending we are on a Contiki tour for middle aged parents and barefoot children.

I admit I have done some spring-cleaning but trying to clean out our rooms puts me in the foulest of moods. I feel quite overwhelmed at the mere sight of my messy house.

My local café barista told me we need a family cleaning sound track as to this day when she hears Fleetwood Mac it reminds her of her mum as that was the background music that was always on as the family cleaned their house. I have always been a bit of a Pink or Robbie Williams house cleaning music gal but my kids prefer novelty songs and do not even get me started on my husband as his choice in heavy metal turns my foul mood into an even darker one quicker than I can throw out the odd socks and dead cockroaches under the beds.

Spotify has released a list of the 25 most popular songs to clean the house according to users. ‘Uptown Funk’ and ‘Bad Guy’ are on the list and some older tunes are represented. Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, and Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ have been inspiring us to get down to cleaning business. I did manage to put off cleaning by compiling a new list of my own songs, but it still did not inspire me to scrub and tidy the way the reward of a gin and tonic at the beach seduces me.

One friend (yes, you, Caroline) even wipes her electrical cords when she cleans her home. Since I found out about this, I now cannot help but notice my electrical cords are very dusty and look disowned.

Another friend I know loves nothing more than to spend Friday night cleaning and baking. This friend uses a mop dipped in bleach to wash her walls and glass cleaner to make her kettle sparkle.

Alas, this shall never be me, but for now I am enjoying the dying days of the Coast Contiki holiday.