Here are my thoughts on living alone, now that I have been doing so for about 3 months:
1. I love walking around naked. It doesn’t matter that almost every wall of my flat is made of glass or mirror. Let the large Navy vessels full of seamen see me if they wish. I love walking around naked.
2. I am not a great singer. But goodness it’s fun trying. I actually make myself giggle with how bad I am. And that is just great fun.
3. TV is your friend. When you are used to partners or friends to chat to when you are home, living alone can be awfully silent if you don’t accept the TV as a surrogate friend. I have the added (bad) habit of using the Sleep function on my TV: I set it to turn off in 3o minutes, so I have the lulling noise of late night television to send me to sleep each night.
4. Cooking for one is a pain in the ass. You either have to invite someone over, or cook with the intention of having the left-overs for lunch or dinner the next day. It can make for a not very entertaining palate, which for me, is quite dire. So, I eat out a lot, or have friends over, or try to cook meals I don’t mind eating a few times a week.
5. As a continuation of the previous point, I waste a lot of food. I do my occasional supermarket shop, buy a packet of this, a bunch of that, but then find that my one cooked meal at home a week doesn’t use up all the ingredients, and by the time I get around to cooking another meal that requires those ingredients, they have gone off. I end up throwing away perfectly good food. It drives me insane.
6. I think I am learning patience and humility, hopefully. Not sure why living alone might aid in this, but it does.
7. I love my home. For the first time ever, my home is my home. I put up whatever photos I want, I arrange the furniture how I want, I can leave my shoes and handbags in the corridor without feeling guilt… I answer to no-one (except my mother, who somehow still can sense if I haven’t tidied up, but oh well, that’s what mothers do) and I truly am mad about that sense of solidarity and freedom.
1. I love walking around naked. It doesn’t matter that almost every wall of my flat is made of glass or mirror. Let the large Navy vessels full of seamen see me if they wish. I love walking around naked.
2. I am not a great singer. But goodness it’s fun trying. I actually make myself giggle with how bad I am. And that is just great fun.
3. TV is your friend. When you are used to partners or friends to chat to when you are home, living alone can be awfully silent if you don’t accept the TV as a surrogate friend. I have the added (bad) habit of using the Sleep function on my TV: I set it to turn off in 3o minutes, so I have the lulling noise of late night television to send me to sleep each night.
4. Cooking for one is a pain in the ass. You either have to invite someone over, or cook with the intention of having the left-overs for lunch or dinner the next day. It can make for a not very entertaining palate, which for me, is quite dire. So, I eat out a lot, or have friends over, or try to cook meals I don’t mind eating a few times a week.
5. As a continuation of the previous point, I waste a lot of food. I do my occasional supermarket shop, buy a packet of this, a bunch of that, but then find that my one cooked meal at home a week doesn’t use up all the ingredients, and by the time I get around to cooking another meal that requires those ingredients, they have gone off. I end up throwing away perfectly good food. It drives me insane.
6. I think I am learning patience and humility, hopefully. Not sure why living alone might aid in this, but it does.
7. I love my home. For the first time ever, my home is my home. I put up whatever photos I want, I arrange the furniture how I want, I can leave my shoes and handbags in the corridor without feeling guilt… I answer to no-one (except my mother, who somehow still can sense if I haven’t tidied up, but oh well, that’s what mothers do) and I truly am mad about that sense of solidarity and freedom.
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