*** Weekend Write-In for 23th Nov 2018 ***

"repeat": In 500 plus words, tell what happens when it repeats

6am. The alarm goes off.

Edgar sighs and pushes back the covers. He plods to the bathroom and turns on the shower.

As the system heats up, he urinates.

A while back, Edgar learned that if he brushed his teeth while in the shower, he can save a few minutes - sticking his head outside the jetting spray, he reaches for the shelf with his toothbrush and flavourmint toothpaste.

12 years ago at the age of 23, Edgar decided to keep his hair cropped short, shaved at the sides and back and slightly longer on top. On a work day he brushes and gels it back - on the weekend he uses the gel to spike and tuft it slightly.

This efficiency cut at least ten minutes from the routine he first had, when hair maintenance took longer. Edgar also used to cook breakfast some days or make a cereal bowl when he was rushed.

But he has fixed this variable in the timing of his routine.

Now Edgar dresses - his wednesday clothes await him on a hangar, with the socks and shoes on the floor by the door. Each night at seven Edgar irons his shirt and trousers and hangs them ready for the next day.

He has ten sets of clothing for work. A main and spare set for every day of the week. There are only two pairs of work shoes though, but Edgar switches them up every month for a bit of variety.

At 7.25am precisely he opens the front door, turns to lock his apartment and proceeds to the elevator.

Five minutes later he steps onto the moving walkway. It is now that Edgar can relax and take out his book. He has fifteen minutes before the walkway takes him to the diner off ramp. Just in case he loses his sense of internal timing, Edgar has preset his phone alarm to beep when the fifteen minutes are up. Without fail he always knows when to look up from his book, at least 20 seconds before the beep.

At the same time he is stepping onto the down ramp, Edgar puts his book away in his small carry bag.

The diner is a few steps from the bottom of the ramp. It is now 7.46am.

Edgar has exactly 29 minutes to eat and relax. He has his pre meal stub ready and hands it to the server; At 7.27am, he ordered through his phone app as he does every morning - his arrival time is pre set through the app, so all he must do is hand over the stub to be scanned and his meal will be handed to him in return.

Edgar's app has also reserved him the booth to the left; it is his until 8.15am. He reserves it each night at 7.23pm and only once was it unavailable - a negligible variable, but annoying at the time.

He opens the steaming cover and looks down at his meal - two poached eggs, a grilled sausage, some grilled bacon, mushrooms and a salad. His juice (orange) and sealed and steaming coffee is there, along with his required small milk pack and one brown sugar.

Edgar knows every calorie - that's why he has a set time booked each day at the company gym at 2.35pm and again at his building's gym at 5.50pm.

He finishes at 8.10am and takes some time to sit and relax. There will be another 15 minutes on the moving walkway, which will take him to the employees entrance ramp; he usually likes to re-read his task list from last night. When he arrives at work, he will begin his daily routine, and every minute of his day will be accounted for - that's what he loves about his job, the minimal amount  of variables.

His weekend routine is similarly structured - he goes to the same places with a spread array of the same friends and he orders the same food at the same times and then monday starts his week over and he repeats his routines.

Edgar is comfortable with this, but recently had an unpleasant variable to his ten minute tuesday night conversation with his mother.

She had suggested he consider dating the daughter of a friend of hers - Edgar had received an email attachment with the picture of an attractive woman and his mother had meticulously noted the prospective match's habits and her routine. Mother thought he might like this woman because she too was a creature of habit; better yet she was open to adapting from single-hood to being in a couple and she wanted to find a man with a similar outlook so they could restructure their lives as a unit, going forward.

Edgar had to admit - she was very attractive and their compatibility levels were high ... higher than any other prospective match he'd encountered. He was very tempted ... but in the end he had to decline. There would be too much change, too many variables.

He might with difficulty be able to adjust but the profile stated that this lady wanted children. Edgar shuddered at the thought - routine would be impossible if a child were involved!