We have a cleaning service who come here every other Tuesday and spend three ours vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing the toilets and such. I’m very happy about this luxury but I will never, ever get used to how the cleaners all move things around. One of them was so bad about it that we had to ask the company to swap her out and send someone else. I literally couldn’t find things after she had been here, and at one point had to by a replacement some kitchen utensil because she had put it away somewhere and I only found it weeks later.

They normally don’t even move things very far or to particularly odd places. It’s just that we like having every thing in its proper place, because that place has emerged as the best and most proper one after potentially years of tweaking. Especially on the kitchen counter. The salt will always be to the left of the pepper because the pepper mill is taller and is easier to grab if it isn’t too close to the knife block. The dish detergent has to be to the left of the soap dispenser because we use it more often and it’s easier to reach there. And so on. By now their proper places are deeply ingrained in memory, and when things that I use daily get moved, it really throw me off.

Today the coffee table had been shifted literally just a few centimetres from its normal spot. That was more than enough to feel off when I put my feet up on it (which I was definitely brought to not do but like an utter slob I still do it anyway). Muscle memory is a strong thing.