Just one trip to the other side of town to take Julia to work has given me more than enough subjects to fill a blog for a week.
One is obviously the morality of taking the car to work when we have a good bus service in Nottingham, and trams that run close to where she wants to be.
Two is the fact that she had four bags with her. Two contain things she is removing from the house. One is phone, sandwiches and such. The fourth is stationery and gym gear. Would she take four bags if she had to use the bus? Discuss.
Three – why do women need a bag to carry the things that go in my pockets? Even in summer I can manage, with a jacket in winter I have a pocket surplus.
Four – decluttering.
Five – decluttering, with special reference to the two bags she has removed today. One only arrived yesterday, the other last Saturday, so my view is that they represent clutter rather than declutter, particularly as most of the Saturday stuff is still here.
Six – the theory of two steps forward and one step back, and how it applies to our decluttering policy.
Seven – differential decluttering. Her stuff is essential (I am told) but mine is fit for the skip.
Eight – do I need treatment for my obsession with clutter?
Nine – design of roads, junctions, traffic lights, bus lanes, cycle lanes and such stuff.
Ten, with reference to Nine, is all this done to make driving so hard we use buses?
Eleven – what is actually in the bus drivers’ test – bullying, cutting corners, pulling off at short notice, providing cyclists with near death experiences? (This question was asked early in the journey, but asked again as I tried to change lanes with a bus bearing down on me.)
Twelve – should I have bought one of those flats by Trent Bridge when I first moved to Nottingham?
Thirteen – would we have had a family if we had a flat there?
Fourteen – if we had a flat, and a family, and had moved, would we have less clutter?
Fifteen – am I obsessed with clutter?
Sixteen – if I had realised that you only had to do five years in the French Foreign Legion would this have altered my attitude towards parenthood?
That covers the journey to work and the first few hundred yards of the journey back. For the second part, which is just as interesting as the first, please call back in a later.
Take the bus. You can blog at the same time.
I need to get Julia to work complete with craft accessories, plants, tools etc. She seems quite resistant to the idea of doing this on the bus. 🙂
Where did the French Foreign Legion come in to it?
You’ve not met my kids have you?
With reference to No. 3 – Most women’s clothes don’t have pockets and if they do they are so small they wouldn’t hold more than the thinnest of handkerchiefs. I would like to be able to go out without a bag sometimes but my family rely on my having all sorts of useful things with me for their use.
Time to be a trend setter Clare – demand jackets with bigger pockets! 🙂
😀 I’m not sure I’d get very far!
Don’t be defeatist – you could be the one to release women from the tyranny of bags. 🙂
Hahaha!
We’re in Suffolk over Christmas, I will keep an eye out for a woman with big pockets. 🙂
You make me laugh 😀
🙂
I don’t carry a handbag much except when traveling. I am simply afraid of setting it down and forgetting about it. As someone who once drove off with a pizza on the roof of the car (long ago now), this is a distinct possibility. 🙂
Yes, I’ve put bags down then walked off without them. Easy done.
I am surprised to to find that you have so much time for thinking while you are driving. I spend most of my time being surprised…..and with people saying, “Didn’t you see that….”
I admit I edited a number of thoughts of the “where did he come from?” and “Braaaakes!” variety.
I read part two first and found it even more interesting. Stuff in pockets spoils the line of clothes – just saying.
Thanks Derrick. I was born baggy so the chances of spoiling the line of my clothes are small. 🙂
🙂
Goodness, so much to think about. Onward, ho?
I really should think “I need to concentrate more.” 🙂
With reference to number three, I can think of several reasons why we women need bags to carry our essential items. To name but one, I can’t see carrying a sharp-ended nail file in my pocket. I have plenty of clutter but have learned to live with it.
Nail file? Women truly are a mystery…