QUOTATIONS

have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful
or believe to be beautiful
so said the great victorian polymath william morris
oh william
i heartily agree!
but such a thing is easily said
with a large inheritance to live off
a retinue of servants to keep your house in order
and an absence of internet shopping or car boot sales
how distant morris' aspiration seems
as distant as the victorian era itself
this morning
i awake early at six thirty
and pad down the stairs to fix a nice cafetiere of coffee
two hours later
the cafetiere remains empty
the culprit?
a marathon session of tidying and cleaning the kitchen and garage
it all starts innocently enough
a quick sorting out of the recycling before the binmen arrive
then things go progressively downhill
as i try to clear some space around the kitchen boiler
to allow the gas man to do his annual check unimpeded
and strip away layer after layer of unwanted stuff, dust and grime
in the process of this operation
i unearth literally mountains of supermarket carrier bags
just a few months ago i recall throwing out hundreds more of them in sheer desperation
to an uncomplicated idler like me
living like this is utter anathema
what's that other quote from fight club?
the things you own end up owning you