Sunday, December 04, 2005

I like things to have places.

As my Dad and countless other people from that generation put it, "a place for everything". (Yes I know there was more to it but I never quite mastered the second bit).
So I've just spent a happy half hour creating places for visitors to my blog, blogs I have visited but who haven't visited me and while I was 'managing' (was I? really? ooh how clever) bookmarks, I tidied away a whole lot of random web pages into places I'd made earlier. And a new place called 'random places'
Also have found a small blue and white striped china teapot in which to make ginger and lemongrass tea. and a place to put it.
Places often seem to amount to useless pieces of storage equipment, like the earring caddy from lakeland plastics which is too small although a life size one would be very useful (probably) and a box full of smaller boxes into which are crammed even smaller boxes. These will undoubtedly one day be very useful places to put things. In the meantime I have to find a place to put them which is difficult as they keep falling out of the box.
The ginger jar is a very good place to put ginger only not quite big enough when I've just stocked up on ginger (so I have to have a place to put the rest of the ginger until there's room in the ginger jar. This really iritates me.). Oh I've just realised I now need a place to put lemon grass as I will be getting lots of it until I get bored with L&GT.
The only room in the house where things are mostly in their places is my music room...and my computer desk I suppose though that tends to get merged with the dining room. The trouble with the music room is as it generally looks emptier and tidier than anywhere else, things with no places tend to go there while I'm trying to find places for them. Also people who are extra to bedroom space. Like when Grandad and Summer are both here, they both have to have a room to themselves on the first floor and apart from ours, there's only one. So Grandad has to go in the music room.
Every so often I get annoyed by the slow inevitable growth of placeless things and go out and buy a piece of furniture specifically to fit some of them in. (And first, of course, I have to find a place for it) This can be a challenging business.
Also I sometimes buy things from charity shops, which I feel sure will one day be really excellent places to put things.
I have too many clothes as well.
We bought our first house from an elderly couple (Tom and Doris) whos house was stacked and piled and heaped with well, stuff. Knicknacks and gew-gaws (possibly) and junk and china and pictures. the sitting room was arranged with the sofa in the middle and a path round it. Against every wall mountains of stuff rose to the ceiling. stuff was heaped against the sofa on all sides, leaving just enough room for two pairs of legs to reach the floor (Actually, only one and a half pairs, as Doris only had one leg). The path threaded its way as if along the bottom of a canyon of junk.
I am haunted by the fear that one day our house will look like Tom and Doris's.

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