Small Pleasures

For some people, household chores are just that; chores that need doing and are often done grudgingly, cutting in on one's spare time during evenings and weekends.

Of course, there are things to do around the house that I prefer to other things, but generally, I do not mind doing housework at all. Well - I can say that easily, as I do not have to clean up the mess other people make; the way I leave my flat in the morning is exactly the way I find it again when I return, except for the odd cat hair that wasn't there before.

Still, I do actually like my usual Saturday morning cleaning (as I have mentioned before in my blog.) I do this for myself, so that I can keep enjoying a tidy, clean place which is crucial for my wellbeing, seeing as I seem to need the neat outer frame in order to keep the inner wilderness under check (I deliberately am not saying "at bay", as I quite like to indulge in that wilderness sometimes, and if I kept it at bay, that wouldn't be possible, would it!).

One of the chores that are not on my mental list every week is polishing my shoes.

Yes, I really like doing that!

When my husband was still alive, and also during my first marriage, it was always me volunteering to clean our shoes, his as well as my own.

What exactly is it I like about it? There's the smell of the shoe polish, the smoothness of the leather, the softness of the cloth, the shine I can bring on by the use of a brush, and the satisfaction of having done something relatively useful with my hands.

If I had to do this for a living, I doubt I would still feel the same way. But, thankfully, I can indulge in polishing shoes just for fun and, of course, when it is necessary - I hate walking about in shoes that are not clean, and these days with the snow and the sludge and mud out there, they look awful enough to actually deserve a good scrub every day. That would be too much even for me - and having recently invested in a pair of wellies, it remains something to be done only every now and then.