it’s ok for me to have fun.

The five-a-side goes first. Then the instrument, back in its case under the bed. Then the friends you keep meaning to organise something with. A busy year cuts fun before it cuts anything else, because fun never issues an invoice or files a complaint.

What it does produce is the reason for all the rest. A life defended entirely by obligations is a fortress with nothing inside it.

An afternoon spent badly on purpose is not a lapse in seriousness. It is closer to the point of the whole arrangement.