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I beat the travel blues by staying home for Eid

Cleaning up can be therapeutic, I was telling a friend. The silence works. But you can do chores while blasting music

The last time I returned to Dubai, I took a couple of weeks to unpack my suitcase. I fished out the essentials but some stuff just lay there. I did nothing about the black hardback with wheels taking up space in a small room, shrunk further by things not put way. This is awful and completely my fault. I can be a slob.
So it was nice to not have a suitcase to pack for Eid, a relief to not have to keep thinking of unpacking. This is why I like staycations. There's nothing to plan. There's no pressure to enjoy yourself. No getting annoyed at hotel wifi not being fast enough, even though you're conscious to get off the phone and look up because you're on holiday, for god's sake.
I didn't go anywhere for Eid. I happily spent time soaking up the wifi rays at home. Some of the money I would have spent on flying out of Dubai I spent at Lakeland, buying kitchen shelves and other well-designed but possibly useless things that I am a sucker for. I turned into an organisation fiend. A UAE-based Marie Kondo. Suddenly my house needed to be in order and sparking joy. My mother would be alarmed.
The energy I would have spent trying to dispel thoughts of pinching raucous kids in airport queues, I channelised into over an hour of scrubbing lacklustre copper kettles with Shadazzle, lemon smelling cleaning agent, my latest play thing. My hands were grey with oxidised gunk but they shone beautifully. I put the shiny kettles together on a white background and took a picture that I didn't upload on Instagram. Some satisfactions are #personal.
I sorted my crockery. It usually lies in disarray, half here, half there. I was confused at first. Do you sort material wise? All glass stuff this side, all ceramics that side? Or do you go function wise, all glass and steel bowls one side, all plates . such were the travails of my Eid weekend. No one teaches you this stuff.
I felt chuffed at completing pending tasks that could have been dealt with sooner. Replying to e-mails, folding a mountain of clothes, dusting corners of the house I never use in my daily rhythm, rearranging the spice rack, clipping dead leaves off the aloe vera, sorting the under-kitchen sink cupboard, and other such activities centred around storage and tidying up. I stood on the step ladder, chin up, cleaned AC vents with a soapy sponge, and blinked like a mad woman, rushing to the bathroom sink to spit out dust balls when they collapsed in my mouth.
Cleaning up can be therapeutic, I was telling a friend. The silence works. But you can do chores while blasting music. You can also listen to interesting stuff, TEDTalks. Here's a recommendation: Sinéad Burke talking about why design should include everyone. And how as a little person, she finds it a challenge to use public restrooms. The indignity of poorly designed things isn't something a lot of us think about.
I saw documentaries on Netflix, one on cricket, one on free press, might watch some more. Or read. Now that the domestic disarray has been dealt with. You can't read and do house work, you see. You can do that with documentaries playing or with a podcast on. You don't have to keep looking at the screen. Eid should come by more often. I'd learn more. And get so much done around the house.
nivriti@khaleejtimes.com