Packing

I dislike packing. It's boring and very slightly anxiety-making. Will I remember everything I need? Did I put everything in that wash two days ago (the one where the washing machine leaked onto the floor but let's not think about that till I'm back home, eh?)?
(Actually those two question marks together are a good emoji for packing.)
I've been doing it all my life. I am well organised, I have a packing list on my laptop that I can copy and amend for different trips: festival, snowy, teaching, hot... I take the print-out with me so I can amend it if I realise I'm missing something. (Your diagnosis is probably wrong, but some of you will have got it.)

Anyway, I put off the packing until this evening, after I'd given the shelves I'm making another coat of oil and after I'd shown my child neighbours where to harvest the skulking courgettes, the low-down French beans and the occasional strawberry.

I need thinnish cotton trousers for this trip that are nonetheless robust and practical enough for town-walking, sitting on the ground and (where is my neck-pillow?) not showing the dirt. The blue ones? Hmm, I've worn them so close to death that the dye has faded to grey on the front and they look perpetually dirty. The pale (where is my neck-pillow? It'd be good for the night on the ferry) turquoisey ones? Too pale - they'll show the dirt before I even arrive. What are these? Oh, a kind of muddy greeny-grey. Very practical. Do they fit? Yesbut: 10cm too long. That, along with the sub-army colour is probably why I've forgotten them. Good for this trip, though... Do I feel (where is my neck-pillow?) like taking them up? Nah, too tired, I'll do it in the  morning.

No, Arachne. The morning is for freezing the left-over milk, switching off the ventilation system, packing the food and the laptop (remember the charger), maybe finding the neck-pillow, and going to get the bus.

OK. Well tonight I'll just mark where, and cut off the excess.

A little ragged but good enough. I'll just get the machine out and do the over-locking. Oh, the thread already on it would work really well!

They won't take long to finish now (I wonder where I put my neck-pillow...) Not posh trousers, no hidden hemming, just a straight-stitch whizz round the bottom.

Somewhere I have a thin but warm cardigan that would look good with those. I think it's in the mending pile, but I could take it with me and mend it on the train.

Try on the trousers? Perfect (for given values of 'perfect' obviously). Add to the pile for wearing in the morning.

Where is my my neck pillow? Come to think of it, where is my mending pile? (Honestly, I really will be well-organised once the carpenter finally shows up and builds the wardrobe/cupboard I've designed.)

I've packed my old backpack a thousand times. I've never packed this daunting brand-new wheelie bag (with hidden pack-straps for when I encounter steps). Actually, it's really straightforward. Well-made (I did my research). Everything goes in easily.

There's room for a neck-pillow too...