"Every year at this time, I think of a quote from the Bible, but which I know from Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, in which seven-year-old Jeanette stitches a needlepoint sampler decorated withthe inscription: The summer is ended and we are not yet saved. We are not yet saved: no, not in this house, where I experience the back-to-school week in September far more urgently than New Year's Day as the time of year for a behavioural reset."
"New school year, new me, new cast-iron conviction I can put the rocky road on the top shelf after I've used it in my girls' packed lunches and not get it down until tomorrow. This is the first and most pressing item on the list: diet. Ten days out from Iberico ham night at the all-inclusive buffet in Spain, and I'm still more jamon than woman."
A seasonal cue triggers a resolve to reset habits, with September framed as the time for behavioural change. Dietary discipline becomes the first priority after indulgent holiday eating, prompting shame, self-denial and experiments with austere health foods. Domestic maintenance moves to the forefront as accumulated mess from extended household occupation demands attention, including small practical tasks like emptying a vacuum chamber. Decluttering brings uncertainty, embarrassment and attachment, illustrated by attempts to rehome castoff clothing and a retained designer shirt that symbolizes past aspirations. The mood combines wry self-awareness, middle-age reckoning and mundane domestic logistics.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]