"The dirtiest old man in history emerges”

HOME from Greece. The normal rules of life, suspended for a fortnight, reinstate themselves.

I’m standing by the washing-line. The ground is sodden, the sky its usual colour, but today there’s a big blue gap in it. A well-meaning sky, I’ve decided with bitter optimism. I start to peg out wet laundry: knickers, peg, pants, peg, sock. Pause. Deep breath, shoulder slump and… resume: jeans, peg, shirt, peg, bra.

Bored? No? Good. To continue then: sheet, peg, sock, peg, towel. The pegs are going on hard now, for I am feeling petulant; it looks like the big blue gap is closing, (sock, peg, sock). I stare up at the sky.