Friday, April 27, 2007

Spring Cleaning in Autumn

We spent Anzac Day doing the sort of chores that used to be called Spring Cleaning, but it’s actually Autumn here at present. We washed the bathroom completely, from ceiling to floor. We washed the kitchen from floor to ceiling and moved all the stuff that hadn’t been moved for quite a bit of time – I won’t say how long. Very satisfying, and tiring, and a good time for throwing out old things that we’d hung onto for no particular reason.
Each time we have a major cleanup we find things that have come to the end not just of their useful life, but of their life full stop. Why we’ve kept them at all up to this point is always a mystery, but it’s not a mystery we’ve ever been able to solve. There are always the pieces of pottery that we haven’t been able to throw out, though we have no possible use for them. There are always the various tools that have long lost their usefulness because some bit’s gone, or something doesn’t quite work any more. There are clothes that have stains on them, or don’t fit, or are threadbare, but they’ve continued to hang on the clothes hangers.
One of these days we may be able to get more ruthless, but it’s unlikely!

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