Sunday, 11 July 2021
A shed full of junk
Over the past few weeks, bit by bit I’ve been clearing junk from the shed. Obvious junk to begin with such as manky paint brushes I’ll never ever use again simply because they are too manky. I’ve chucked out an amazing number of those.
However, so far most of it is what I class as “junk I might find a use for one day”. I’ve thrown out loads of that, even though it was always obvious I’d never use it.
A set of cupboard door handles which were so ugly I replaced them with new ones. So why did I keep the horrible ones?
A set of wardrobe door handles – ditto.
Ancient tubes of silicone sealant which I’d never have used because even if I delved down into the part which hadn’t set solid I never want to use it when I can get a cheap new tube in town.
A plastic thingy for supporting runner bean canes which never worked and anyway bits kept snapping off. So why keep it? No idea.
A bag of tile grout which has set solid.
Decayed rubber gloves.
A short piece of metal tubing - no idea why I kept that.
Two teaspoons flecked with paint. What did I use those for? No idea.
A chunky metal thing which came with the wood-burner. I'll keep that. Don't know what it does though.
And so it goes on. It’s all bagged now ready to be thrown out, but I know there is more. It’s a shed – there is always more. It’s a dusty job too. Maybe I ought to wear a mask.
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7 comments:
There's a flow in our house. 'Stuff' gets put in the back bedroom until that is full. Then the stuff in the back bedroom is migrated down to the garage. The shed is an overflow for the garage so that we could put the car in the garage at the depths of winter.
And then the garage is pruned and the pruning put in a skip to be taken away (4 so far). I'd take the stuff to 'the tip' but that's getting too bureaucratic - everything has to be presorted into the correct recycling types, and during recent times you had to book a 'slot' on line. You used to rock up with a car full and dump it out in a big heap.
I know why people are tempted to fly tip, even while I don't support that.
We inherited the rectory from the previous bloke who died in harness, so it's been interesting going through his junk - which fills several outhouses, rather than just one shed. I can speculate why he kept stuff. Pews - belong to the church and far too heavy to get to the tip. An old pump - someone might have a use for it, as it's been swapped out in good working order. Piles of brick - one day I'll need to repair that garden wall. A chest without a lid - still good for putting boots etc. in. An ancient wooden model of the church - someone spent ages making it, and it's a shame to throw it out.
What's interesting is that I have more understanding of why he kept his junk than why I kept any junk of mine.
The memsahib refuses to accept that there is no such thing as junk. There are only items for which I have yet to find a use.
The shed one of the few refuges left to man, may the items of in consequence and doubtful use continue, the day we have a totally clean and organised shed full of only useful items is the day we are finished and become boring automatons, my wife insists I become one but I resist, that hi fi unit costing hundreds when they were desirable remains I refuse despite the fact it only collects dust and fails to sell however many times I put it on ebay, to part with it.
The useless engine parts from an exploded sixties Ford Cosworth race engine also still follow me to the grave, it is a man thing.
I spent a happy half hour taking apart the cutter head of a defunct hedge trimmer yesterday, just to see how it worked...
I'd sold the unit two years ago, but this bit had failed so they sent me a new one. I'm still none the wiser, and covered in grease!
But my collection of cassettes is manifested there, and Supertramp still echoes around the boxes containing several million nuts, nails, screws and bolts...
Go to it rightly, AKH.
DJ - we have half an eye on downsizing so we are beginning to prune stuff as a matter of routine although some of it has to go to the waste disposal site. The site is okay in terms of sorting but it can be very busy.
Sam - some of that stuff could possibly be sold for church funds. We often see pews for sale although they tend to be fairly small ones. It's surprising what people will buy.
Jannie - I find that junk becomes junk when there is so much of it that I can't find the useful stuff. At that point the junk has to go.
Wiggia - our shed is still too full to be used as a proper man-shed.
Scrobs - cassettes bring back memories of winding the tape back in via a pencil. Our grandkids have probably never even seen one.
James - lots more to do yet.
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