We’ve moved house, but every purchase feels fraught with indecision | Coco Khan

This ‘new chapter’ seems to mostly involve arguing about what to buy. What’s wrong with trial and error?

When my boyfriend and I moved into our own flat, we were congratulated on our “new chapter”. I didn’t get it: we’d already been living together for several years in a shared place, so the move seemed more like a minor upgrade. It turns out that everyone was being vague about what this chapter actually is. Which is understandable: “Congratulations on opening your new chapter of arguing about what mundane crap you need to buy” is far too long for a card.

Rug underlay, a jigsaw, a storage thing to put another thing in – products with dozens of versions available and thus requiring research to make the “right” choice. I had no idea starting a new chapter with my great love would feel quite so much like a public-sector organisation tendering for a water cooler.