Here she is, one Mrs Marjorie McWeeney ironing amongst the fruits of her forthcoming labour... For here she stands in Bloomingdales, New York, 1947 amidst a "symbolic display of her housework". Namely 35 beds to be made, 750 items of glass and china to be washed, dried and put away, 400 pieces of silverware to clean and polish, 174 lbs of food to prepare, and 250 piece of laundry to be dealt with...

Gosh. Add to that kids to be washed, dressed fed, watered and educated, a full time job, all the financial nonsense we are required to juggle these days, a social life of some description and a whole host of personal hopes and dreams and I tell ya, it's a wonder any of us are able to function without falling over from sheer debilitating exhaustion.

And yet we do. Because we gotta...