Colm O'Regan: Cleaning the house can both spark joy and cause a panic

Every so often, a cold wind of change sweeps through the house, when you declutter and nothing is safe

Colm O'Regan: "There is a rustling in the corner. The youngest is tidying things; TIDYING. Sometimes you watch your children pick up your neuroses later on in life."

It's early morning in the family hotel room of a bank holiday. The air is hotel room morning air. The air that makes a teetotaller feel hungover; that makes a light drinker feel like they’ve just woken up in the cart of a pressganger having been plied with rum. 

There is a rustling in the corner. The youngest is tidying things; TIDYING. Sometimes you watch your children pick up your neuroses later on in life.