Hoarding

I did mention a little while back that Him
Indoors had ordered a skip and was making his way through the shed,
loft and house, merrily throwing away vast amounts of things which
could come in handy at some point.

Him Indoors quickly gave up
on asking for my help in the matter. He found I was slowing him down as
he had to counter every argument used to plead the cause of every piece
he destined to the skip.

Yes, I did plead for the black bin liner
full of power leads and power supply units (I keep them when an
appliance gives up, you never know when you'll need another one do
you?). Yes, I did plead for the unusual size staples which do not fit
in the staplers we have.You name it, I keep it (I cut buttons off shirts
before throwing them when the cuffs and collar are too worn to wear any
longer and I only recently stopped cutting the material in pieces "just in
case I need some fabric that colour for a quilt or something"). I am
Mr Trebus' spiritual daughter.

Instead of struggling some more,
he sent me to do a job more suited to my abilities ie something which
required only brute force and ignorance and no decision making
whatsoever (dismantling the 70's fitted wardrobe and putting the bits
in the skip). Before I could get busy with screwdrivers and a few
strategically applied steel toe capped kicks I had to empty the
wardrobe. I found a few things which do tell of hoarding habits:
warranties and instruction manuals for items which went to electircal
goods heaven years ago; special offer coupons (you know the sort,
collect 3 empty wrappers and get a free recipe booklet etc); leaflets;
floppy disks and more werid and wonderful things kept just in case.


I also found the one and only card/letter The Boy's father ever sent
me. It proved to be quite an interesting find actually. With hindsight
it showed the relation was doomed already by then, 3 month in. I am
surprise also surprised the gushiness of most of it did not make
me run a mile. Wonderful thing hindsight isn't it?

Him Indoors was
impressed with the result. You can now see the dark purple paint on the
wall in the corner and the original goose pooh green 30's linoleum
where the base used to be. Then he took one look at the bedside cabinet
and laughed. Next to the screwdrivers was a neat pile of "still
useable" screws. He pointed out there is a box in the utility room
which contains 2,500 assorted screws. My defense: "well, at least I did
not dismantle and save the hinges".

It's a lost cause.
14.9.05 21:47


The pictures from the Circle Line Hike are now online, just click below

www.flickr.com
17.9.05 13:12


Dans la troupe y'a pas de jambe de bois

Done it, 17 miles, overnight, following the route of the Circle line in order to raise money for a Maggie's Centre
to be built in Hammersmith. If you have not done it already you can
still sponsor me (just click the sponsor me link to the left).

The walk was orgaised in conjunction with the Open House
London Annual Weekend so some of the rest stops were also an
opportunity to see some of the buildings taking part in the event at
night.

The walk started at the Guildhall which the accompanying
leaflet tells us "is the only secular stone structure dating from
before 1666 still standing in the city"

There wallkers all
started at the same time but soon spread out depending on the pace (and
how often they stopped to try and take a few pictures

The low
point of the night? The mile before the HM treasury rest stop and
finding out there was no more tea by the time we got there. Fortunately
the building made up for the diappointment and Pixeldiva
indulged my craving for the brown stuff by letting me stop long enough
at Custom House to prepare and consume a cup of white no sugar.

The strangest point of the night? Just after Sloane Square when somebody must have tagged Pixeldiva
with a weirdo magnet and some dark force must have activated it,
because a stange bloke, claiming to be a secret cameraman for GMTV ,
decided he wanted to hug, hold and kiss her despite her entire body
language screeming "get off me you freak or I'll thump you ". Clearly
he was oblivious to threatening looks. Shaking him off proved quite
tricky indeed.

The highlight of the night? Sunrise over Tower
bridge just as I was starting to wonder why I was doing this and the
legs vere begining to stiffen. I would recommend it, well worth getting
up for. It was great, as were the subsequent views of London at dawn
from the bridge itself and from the balcony on the 9th floor of City
Hall. After seeing this it will be even harder for me to comprehend how
anybody could be tired of London. The photos do not do it justice. Go
and see it for yourself if you get the opportunity.

Pixeldiva moblogged it all as we went along and included some pictures.

No doubt Neil and Annie Mole will soon post write ups of their own

Now
if you will please excuse me, i have been up since 6:30am yesterday and
I think that it would probably be a good idea to catch up on a bit of
sleep once I have finished my cup of tea.

*note to self: next time an all night event is planned, it would probably be wise to take the day off work beforehand*
17.9.05 13:42


Another one of life's little pleasures

Arriving
slightly early, eating chips sitting on the wall by the riverbank.
Watching people walking past, the changing light, signs of the current,
geese flying in formation, people leaving riverboats and saying their
goodbyes.

Being tempted to take the camera out in an attempt to
capture the moment. Realising it's more about sounds and smells and the
slowness of movements and forgetting about the picture.

Staying on the wall a little longer.
22.9.05 08:06


The cat ate my post, honest.
27.9.05 21:10


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