Free Stuff

Kate is finally selling her house that she’s rented out to PhD students for the past 4 years. Despite her giving them a great deal and asking them to clean it when they went, they left it in a shocking state.

She’s emptied out 20 years of bringing up her family here. There’s little room in her new house and her partner has instructed her to only bring one carful back (she’s going to stretch that to 3 of course!). With huge generosity she has decided to give away all her possessions. That includes a 50” plasma TV, a canoe, keyboard, 2 Kayaks, innumerable books, art equipment, kitchenware… it’s been impressive to see how little she is attached to material goods and what pleasure it has brought her to give things away. In many cases the people turning up with bags and boxes were young couples setting up their first home, newly arrived overseas students, and people struggling financially who carefully chose items for their homes.

She’s a very special person and I will miss her hugely when she goes back. I do, however, have a couple of beautiful bone China Quentin Blake mugs from her give away table that I will use each morning and think of her. I’ll be able to visit of course, but these last couple of weeks with her back here have been lovely.