The new Harry Potter is lying untouched and unopened on the coffee table downstairs.

It's not that I don't want to read it. I just know that once I pick it up, that will be me out of cycle of life for about two days. And right now I seem to need all the time I can get.

Not that I could tell you where it actually goes. Nor can I look around at the end of the day and say "Well, at least I did that".

The problem, I think, is lack of routines. Routines get a lot of stuff done without your even noticing it, leaving you time to read the new Harry Potter. But now, I don't even have a routine for getting up in the morning, or taking a shower, or getting dressed. A whole day can pass without my ever making it to the shower.

Or have the days just become shorter?

When I was a kid, I used to have stacks of the stuff. I could read five to seven books a week, eat meals, play in the swimming pool (I have videos proving that I did play outside), star in home movies, do homework and visit friends.

Now I have trouble just getting to the meals. I've tried to read two books this year, but I fall asleep after a couple of pages. Mostly I listen to them. I download them from audible.com and listen on my mp3 player while I futz around aimlessly trying to iron something here or tidy something there.

It may be that they weren't very good books and my tolerance for poor, self-indulgent writing has faded. But my scrabble history doesn't show too many games in the past few weeks either, and I've been here!

There are a number of branches in the garden, attesting to a certain amount of domestic activity. There are clothes in my cupboard, so ditto. The fridge is somewhat bare and I lack inspiration for tonight's dinner.

So I will have to go out and stock up on comestibles at the very least.

And the new Harry Potter will have to remain untouched for another day.