Plenty

'There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery'.
 (Dickins Challenge Week 3)
 
A sentiment I can definitely agree with. I have always loved paper - one of my greatest treats as a child was to go to Woolworths and buy a pack of typing paper. I can remember very clearly the joy of taking home a whole pack of pure white unused paper. I wrote stories, made books and magazines. I never drew; I wrote words.
 
And now, as I look across at several shelves like this full of paper and card, the idea of having 'plenty' is particularly poignant, because . . .
 
In the village of Burneside in Cumbria is a paper mill of long-standing -  James Cropper. They make paper of all kinds for all purposes. A number of years ago they had a section of the mill, which was a real treasure trove of 'off-cuts' and to which the public had access. Everyone I knew used to make regular visits to stock up - for their own use, for their children, for school.
 
Then they closed this section and transferred the 'off-cuts' to a shop in Rheged. It was very much sanitised - no more rooting through a jumble of paper. Now the shelves were very neat and tidy and organised. But it was still possible to fill a box and pay not an awful lot for your selection.
 
Fortunately I was tempted to return time and again and 'fill a box', because a few years ago this shop also closed. Like other people, I miss it very much. (I think they supply a few places with the same sort of thing, but at ridiculous prices.)
 
   
So, I am very comforted whenever I look across at my store.