Cupboard clear-out (Part 2)

My cunning plan yesterday - to start to clear out the corner cupboard, but abandon the task for Spiral last night, leaving the hallway strewn with the contents, has worked! I had to keep on with the task today! Brilliant plan.

From the cupboard I had a stack of old paperwork (years old house insurances, cashed in Premium Bonds, huge folders of long abandoned complicated savings schemes, bank statements from years ago) that I had to shred. I found quite a stash of French francs!! Are they still legal tender? Shows you how long ago I examined this cupboard.

With the advent of cabin luggage and easyjet flights that demand you take your toiletries in a small plastic bag, I could start a small pharmacy with the pottles of shampoo, soap, conditioner etc. If I was organised, I wouldn't need to buy any of that stuff for a year! Or I might just chuck it all out.

Had take away fish and chips last night. Haven't had them for years. Don't normally buy them, preferring supermarket do-it-yourself ones. But the local chippie has new owners (as in a year ago!). At least they made them to order, which isn't always the case. Unheard of in NZ where fish and chip takeaway was so good it was a weekly occurrence.

I can still remember, arriving in Auckland and staying with a friend's parents, almost 40 years ago (!!). My wee pal and I went into a fish and chip shop in Newmarket for some comfort food. We had been used to haddock, of course, but were asked if we wanted snapper or shark. Eeeek! And all the packets of cigarettes were different and my wee smoking pal was even more distressed. Fun times, though it didn't feel like it at the time.

I've finished the marathon task of shredding that huge pile of documents, which were once considered to be important enough to file in the cupboard... I now have just a teensy wee thought nagging... I do hope they were all shred-able!

So a quick nip out between chores for a blip. Lots of lovely flowers, but I chose these humble nettles. Mainly because I know what they are (and somebody's going to tell they're not actually nettles..) but also because I like this wee leaf turning its silvery side up. And they don't get much good press, really.

Yesterday on the bus I heard a mobile phone ring. Then this:

'I'll call you back - I'm on the bus,' and she put it back in her pocket!!

What a nicer place the world (or at least, buses) would be if everybody did that.