I have my own list of what needs doing and in roughly what order but there's something about someone visiting that shifts the perspective. So it was that I vacuumed three weeks' of introdden soil and rose petals off the back-room floor, carried the 'sideboard' (a large TV box covered in fabric and a conveniently-sized science-bench offcut) upstairs and put the old chest-perhaps-to-be reclaimed in its place rather than protruding into the room. I also unscrewed its broken lid and replaced it with a piece of timber I identified months ago as a potential new lid. A small amount of work; a large transformation. K walked quickly through to the garden in sunglasses and didn't see it but I was pleased.

After she'd left, I carried on sitting outside until the light was gone. I'll enjoy my rearranged room tomorrow, perhaps.