NOT IN THE BEDROOM

‘Lovely day,’ I said to the caretaker in the lift on my way back up to my flat after putting glass and tins in to the recycling bins out front of the block.
‘Cor,’ he said, ‘isn’t it though. This time of year you can’t go wrong when it’s like this.’
‘That’s true,’ I said.
‘Keeps the heating bills down,’ he said.
‘I’ve not put mine on yet.’
‘Really? I’ve had it on in the living room a couple of times but not in the bedroom yet.’
He got out a few floors below mine, took the mop and bucket, the smell of disinfectant lingered.
We didn’t say, ‘Goodbye,’ to each other. He wore earphones to an ipod and I had a couple of carrier bags to fiddle with.