SEEING A PILE of unwashed pots and other cooking utensils reminded me of my father, who died aged 101 in 2020. A couple of years ago, I began writing my memories of him as a father, but have never completed the work. However, here is an excerpt that relates to my father and the kitchen sink:

“Many people who knew my father would not have associated him with household chores. And that would be largely correct. My mother was more involved than Dad with the practical running of the household. However, there were a few things that he did on a regular basis. One of these was washing the dishes after a meal.

Dad had a rather puritanical attitude to work. Often, I felt that he considered it to be unworthy to stop working to relax, yet he did, but sometimes in an unusual way. He liked standing at the kitchen sink doing the washing of dishes, cutlery, and cooking utensils. By doing this, he was relaxing by being away from his desk, but he was not wasting time by doing nothing. He felt that he was achieving something useful whilst at the same time he was relaxing or just thinking about his academic work. When we bought our first dishwashing machine in the 1960s, I felt that Dad regretted it, because this machine had reduced the amount of time he could pass standing at the kitchen sink. Because my mother refused to put pots and pans and cooking knives in our machine, he was not entirely deprived of his time at the sink.“

Having shared this with you, I will now head for our kitchen sink, and tackle the task that confronts me.