We enjoyed living in our ultra modern home, but the time had come for something different.

We locked the doors, undid the tiny valve and let the air hiss out as the house flattened into an easily packed flat blob.

A new mutli level, 6 bedroom, 2 swimming pool and three kitchen cute town house awaited and was being inflated as we got into the car and drove out of the gates that had marked the last years of life’s moments and memories.

A new fluidity had arrrived, inflatable, deflatable and suitable for the impulsive.

A fluid life. An evolving story.

New shoes. Not new and unused, but new to Josh the Joker.

New belt. Not new and unused, but new to Rose the Rookie Reiki practitioner.

The economist down the street, the bio-technologist at the square, they were pouring over their papers.

A corner shop paid out light into the early pre-morning darkness.

A billboard showed a picture of the new nano phone,  which implantable and battery-less, acted as if it were an additional human being.

The used clothing store was the single source of all invention.

The first day. There are always some bright, encouraging things to do, say or intone that make you seem valuable.

They’ll find out later how special you are.

Just offer more than required and offer when not even asked.

Mistakes? Normal. Questions – even better – they love explaining, teaching, helping!

This nugget of a micro-manual can be used in passing-cloud meetings as much as a new seat on the board, or the first day at the gleaming new (or not so gleaming) job.

And it’s so easy!

You can fly from your house to mine if you have wings or a ticket.

I offer you the best chocolate tea in the world and vegetable cookies to rave about.

We could return to the original menu….but then, there might not be a direct flight.

Oh! Wow! Kazaam! How the cookie crumbles.

We are so-so powerful.

They all worked together for so many years and were married to the same husbands and wives.

No secrets, no dirty laundry, no confessions.

Time was, they said, that everyone used to wear a belt, braces and spats.

Now the scrappy shorts were almost as long as a pair of farm overalls, but half as smart and half as stylish.

Trends, bends and loose ends.