What is the first hour of your day like?

Early, quiet, and nobody speaks to you for twenty minutes.Efficient. You have the whole thing down to a sequence.Slow and warm, and the best part of the entire day.Late, fast, and largely conducted standing up.

Somebody orders for you. What would annoy you?

Them assuming you would want it hot, like everybody else.Any deviation at all. There are reasons for each part.That they spent real money on what you make at home.Caffeine, at five in the afternoon, without asking.

Your relationship with fuss:

You want the thing itself, done properly, nothing added.A small amount of fuss is the nicest part of an ordinary day.You want it your way, and you are not apologising for it.You have never understood why anybody queues for this.

How do you decide in a shop?

The same thing you always have. It is settled.Fast. You are not going to be the one holding up the queue.Precisely, out loud, with all the necessary details.It depends on the time, and on how you have been sleeping.

What annoys you most in other people?

Making something simple complicated.Dithering with a queue behind them.Telling you it is the wrong weather for what you are having.Pretending they are fine on four hours' sleep. Again.

Pick a small luxury you would defend:

One thing a day, done properly, never compromised.The part of the morning that is entirely for you.Getting exactly what you asked for, exactly as asked.Spending nothing at all and not feeling worse off for it.

What would people say about your standards?

High, and completely unfussy, which surprises people.Specific. You know what good is and you will not pretend.Yours. You genuinely do not mind whether they are shared.Exacting, and you have a reason for every part of it.

Pick how you would rather be described:

Warm, and good at small comforts.Quick, direct, and not around for very long.Practical, and impossible to sell anything to.Self-aware, and better at boundaries than most.

Your idea of a good café:

Good beans, no music, somewhere to read.Standing at the bar. Two minutes. Out.Somewhere that gets the order right without a discussion.Somebody's kitchen, honestly.

What you are like on a bad night's sleep:

Exactly the same. The routine does the work for you.In need of something warm and somebody being kind.Going anyway. Cold drink, sunglasses, on with it.Rearranging the day around it, without complaining.

Pick a phrase you would genuinely say:

"Just as it comes, thanks.""The usual, please.""Something that will make this afternoon nicer.""I'll have it here. It will take a second."

How you would want a friend to describe your house:

"Nothing in there is what you would expect, and it all works.""Everything is exactly where they want it.""Nothing wasted, and somehow everything you need.""Calm. Genuinely calm. How?"