A day in the life of Bob Tickler (self-isolating)

With my cleaner deciding she was no longer coming in and the laundry collection service suspended, I was forced to do my own washing and ironing on bedding change day.

The ironing I managed but lowering the ironing board, for which there seemed to be no lever, was more problematic.

As I  folded my crisply-laundered 300-thread Egyptian cotton pillows and fitted sheet, I reflected on how the dynamics of marriage may now have changed.

Husband is no longer returning from the office recounting his stressful day over a 6pm drink, he now realises that keeping the household clean is not the easy option he imagined.

It’s tedious and requires perseverance and attention to detail.

With the bedding neatly folded in the airing cupboard (one fellow Ruster once told me that in moving into his new home at Notting Hill Gate he only discovered the airing cupboard 6 months later) I felt a sense of pride and achievement.

In the afternoon I made a number of calls and at 6pm a Skype call was scheduled with a friend of mine who is a highly-successful internet entrepreneur in the travel sector.

As you might imagine this business has been hardest hit but he seemed cheerful enough.

Everyday I receive a series of jokes on WhatsApp which I don’t find that amusing but one friend sent me this clip of Ronald Reagan anti-communist jokes which tickled the Tickler, this version courtesy of YouTube – REAGAN TELLS SOVIET JOKES