Editorial: Being tidy now comes naturally

For the first time in 18 years I am living the life of a bachelor and I am surprised how good I am at it. Now, before you start phoning my wife to tell her I am going off the rails, let me explain. It is not what you think.

I have been editor of Hawke's Bay Today for about two months now, but my family - one wife and three girls aged 4, 7 and 14 - remain in Auckland. The plan is for the family to relocate to Hawke's Bay before the end of the year, but until they do I am living a somewhat nomadic existence.

For 11 days of every fortnight I am either in my office in Hastings (most of the time), out and about meeting people or at my temporary apartment in Havelock North. For the remaining three days I travel back to Auckland, normally catching the late Friday night flight and returning on the Monday or Tuesday morning.

It makes for a hectic life, but I am committed to my new job and I am equally committed to my family. It is what it is. I, and my wonderful wife, make it work, although obviously she has a harder role than I do.

Living alone has shown me one thing about myself - I am very well trained.

A housekeeper comes in once a week to clean the motel room/apartment I stay in and I am sure she would admit that I keep the place tidy. In my younger years I felt a bedroom was not lived in unless it was full of stuff. My mother still tells my daughters that she cannot remember seeing the spare bed in my bedroom for about seven years because it was always full of clothes and books.

Frankly, that would drive me crazy now. Maybe it is part of the journey of life we all undertake but I cannot bear living in a mess for more than an hour or so. Sooner rather than later the urge to clean kicks in.

Living alone can be tough at times, but I have no doubt it would be worse sharing an apartment with someone other than family. I could not bear it if I walked into the bathroom and someone had not rinsed the basin after shaving or even if there was a towel left crumpled on the floor.

What amazes me is how easy it is to keep things neat and tidy. I have my routine in the morning and part of that is making the bed and ensuring that everything is packed away before I leave for work. The same goes for evenings, whenever I get home. If I cook, I make sure everything is washed up and packed away before bed.

I used to think that the only reason I helped keep our house in Auckland tidy was because it was either that or absolute chaos - three children make a very big mess. I now realise that I keep it tidy because I like living like that and because I have been programmed to clean up after myself.

Living alone in a tidy apartment is good, but give me the chaos of my daughters any day.