ただ

I bought a new phone. The design is nice and the camera is good. The only thing is, it was a bit expensive.

'No time' was my catchphrase. With work and housework there was a lot to do, and I honestly believed a day wasn't enough. Once, as an experiment, I wrote down for a week how many minutes I spent on what. The result was unexpected. Time spent on work wasn't as long as I'd thought; instead, 'time spent without deciding what to do' averaged an hour and a half a day. I'd dither over what to do next, look at my phone, dither again. Over and over. So I decided to write down, the night before, just three things to do the next day. Never more than three: with too many, I'd end up dithering over where to start. After a month, the amount I get through has hardly changed. But I've stopped saying 'no time'. I understood that it wasn't time I lacked — I simply hadn't decided. Q: What changed after a month? — The workload is the same, but they no longer feel short of time.

W: Did you see that film? M: Yes. I think the story was well done. But three hours is too long. It should have been a bit shorter. Q: What does the man think of the film? — The story is good but it's too long.

From next month I'll be living alone. I'll have to cook and clean myself. I think that's fine. What worries me a little is that there'll be nobody there when I get ill. Q: What is this person worried about? — Nobody being there when they're ill.