I must admit, housing duties aren’t really my thing. I DID learn to change a plug, because it just seems like the most basic skills. Everyone always says things like ‘she can’t even change a plug!’ and ‘he’s so useless around the house, he won’t even change that plug’, so I went online and learned so I didn’t find myself in that circumstance. But truth is, I just don’t have time to tend to the house. Too many creative projects!

That’s why I still have a cleaner, a gardener and I mostly just call a maintenance person in when I need something done. It’s not that I can’t, as such, I just don’t have the free time. If my drain gets blocked- and it has, in the past- I can’t be spending time plugging away with a plunger. There are Melbourne companies that do drain cleaning to call upon, and all it takes is a quick phone call, after which I can get back to my own business. Simple as that. Of course, drain cleaning and clearing can affect my ability to work at home. All that gurgling and water gushing onto the floor. Though I do have various creative spaces to take to when the desire strikes me, I’ve set up my home to be the perfect sanctum of ingenuity. I simply can’t stand it when that space is violated, especially by something as mundane as a blocked drain. Oh, that’s a lovely rhyme…perhaps I can use that in my show.

But my point stands: I could only make the problem worse by tackling it myself, so I naturally defer to the experts. We’ve all been given different skills in life. I was gifted with the power to cause amazement and delight with my creativity and choreography skill. Others have found themselves called to the hands-on professions, the proud Melbourne professional drain replacement folks. In fact, they did a splendid and swift job last time I had a problem. I should creatively memorialise them, somehow…perhaps a character in my big show can have that job? I’ll see if I can fit it around the musical numbers.

-Aubrey