Life was slowly returning to normal, after a year of lockdowns, wearing masks, not meeting with large groups of people. Each day Etti was spending more time on the computer, selling tours, flights, hotel bookings, renting cars. Soon, it seemed she’d be back at work again.
I’m not so lucky; tourists cannot enter the country until the 1st July. It would take a while before I’d be back at work, but prospects were good. The number of Covid cases had dropped to almost zero.
Then two days ago the numbers started climbing. Flights have been cancelled, masks are back again. Our hopes are plummeting more each day. Our fears of returning to the shut downs of January and last year have awoken.
In the good old days, when I was guiding tourists, I had little time to attend to my home environment. Now the Covid situation has led to new insights.
The way to a happy life is a happy wife and the way to make her happy is to clean the house. A clean home is a happy home. Wednesday is cleaning day for me. When my wife returns to work I expect to still be at home, continuing the salutary habits of the Covid days.. When she walks in after a day in the office, she’ll be tired and irritable. Seeing a clean house will be a remedy for her. She won’t have to worry about coming home to a mess.
No piles of dirty dishes, no unfolded washing, no dust on the floors, fresh sheets. She’ll be greeted by a scent of lavender as she opens the door. Waiting to greet her, a cleaning man; a tour guide who has seen the light.