I'm proud of my labeling system

I was just doing a spot of tidying up the other day, when I reached that notorious mess of wires you get behind the television. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. What a mess! I can't even tell you.

When I was a boy, there were two leads round the back of the telly - one for the electricity and one for the aerial. These days, it's a noodle salad of SCART leads for the Freeview set-top box, power cables for the DVD, power cables for the surround sound system and what have you. This is all complicated in our house by the fact that all these appliances are fighting it out for a single four-way power adaptor round the back there.

So, I decided to take the problem into my own hands. After untangling the leads, I then proceeded to label each one with the name and brand of the appliance it belonged to. For example, the lead for the TV now reads "Sony Bravia Flatscreen TV". I now find it much easier to organise the leads, and ensuingly find myself much more at peace with myself and the world.

Anyway, I was "chilling out" with a cup of tea after inventing my cord organisation system, when Margaret got back from Tesco's with the shopping.

"You know how I prefer Waitrose," I sighed when I saw the bags. Margaret glared at me and said nothing. Must be a bad time, I thought to myself. I thought the menopause might put an end to those monthly bad moods, but if anything it's only made them worse. I didn't want to aggravate her while she was having an attack of the grumps, so I tried to keep as straight a face as possible.

Unfortunately, the memory of my labeling was still fresh in my mind, and I was still (justifiably, I think), more than a little pleased with myself.

"So what are you smiling about?" barked Margaret.

I proceeded to tell her about my achievement. Now, I wasn't expecting a woman to be interested in such things, but a little gratitude wouldn't have gone amiss.

Some chance. Apparently I'm "anal" with "too much time on my hands". I'm not too keen on being insulted, so I informed Margaret quietly but forcefully that if she continued to talk to me in this way, I'd just have to go ahead and have that affair with my secretary I've always been planning. That shut her up.

It's the little victories that make life special, but two in one day was a positive boon to this blogger. Casual Dad: 2; Margaret and the leads behind the television: zero.