Whereas BDS formerly commanded my time in blocks of eight hours (plus the penumbra of commute), now that I am released from that servitude the frau appears to believe that these hours are at her disposal, to be apportioned out for errands, for household tasks, for uncompensated services of clerical, editorial, quasi-paralegal characters in bite-sized assignments that carve such free time as is left to me into useless fragments. I am an easygoing, almost uxorious character, but after carrying this woman economically for seven of the past eight years, I am inclined to dig in my heels and claim for myself vast stretches of unencumbered hours. True, we’re not yet at the fortnight mark, but I’m not keen for bad precedents to settle in.

cordially,