Cross it off: the comforting creation of lists

THE first item is written down with purpose. The handwriting is legible and even has a bit of embellishment.

I think I may have cracked open a brand new Mitsubishi ‘Uni-ball Eye Fine’ pen for the purpose. (For those who no longer use pens, the Uni-ball is sort of the Volvo of pens. They don’t do ads but if they did, it would star a fella who looks a bit like Dick Byrne from Glenroe, leaning on a mantelpiece at a party holding one. A woman goes up to him and purrs: “Uni-ball – the mark of a man”). Armed with this kind of pen, clearly, I meant business this time. I was going to do a to do list.

Now, about a month later, I have came across the list again in a notebook marked “TO DO Lists”. One task was completed and crossed off with a flourish. The rest lay untouched. It looked like a written version of a ghost estate. So full of promise when it was originally conceived, now it was abandoned, a reminder of folly.