Monday August 29th 2022

Another day of drudgery - the thing about downsizing and decluttering is that it takes time to even identify all the corners of a large house that need to be "dealt with" - all the drawers, cupboards, wardrobes, outbuildings etc that have all got tons of junk in. It's never ending! You'll see when it comes to your turn. Oh dear!

we're only half way through the morning, and already

items of junk are "queuing up" by the front door,

begging to be taken out to the garage. Oh dear!

...not to mention the human cost: as witnessed by my face.

"If only", I say, "if only I could spend today doing something nice!!!"

On the plus side, I have another of my brilliant ideas today. One of the problems when we move into our new-build home is that there won't be a garden shed to start with, so how are we to keep dry our garden tools and machinery? I decide to go onto Amazon and order a large plastic covering - you know, the sort that people use to cover up their patio tables etc. 

Is that brilliant or is that brilliant!

11:00 Yes, I'm a bit of a "thinker" all right, and that's the quality needed in spades just at the moment, no doubt about that! 

But is one good idea enough, when you're trying to declutter? Probably not, so I decide to trawl the influential American website, Onion News, to see if there are any useful celebrity super-hints out there.

For decluttering, sheds are key, that's for sure, and we may have to buy a few temporary sheds before we move, to help us in the process, according to celebrity Joanna Gaines [Who she? - Ed].

By contrast, Ty Pennington favours the "demolition approach" [Who he? - Ed]

We particularly like Marie Kondo's approach - the worst thing about decluttering is the sock drawer, no doubt about that, and it's vital to "think outside the box" - or "think outside the socks" as we say. [Who she? - Ed]

Most of all we admire Jonathan Adler's non-nonsense attitude to decluttering, and at the moment we're doing our sums to work out whether we can go down the Adler route - first results suggest not, unfortunately! [Who he? - Ed]

The most practical super-hint is definitely Christina Haack's and one that we can implement almost immediately, or at least within about 3 years, say! [Who she? - Ed] 

[That's enough stupid celebrity super-hints! - Ed]

12:00 Just as Lois and I start to feel desperate about ever being able to downsize, luckily Steve, our American brother-in-law, emails us one of the amusing weekly Venn diagrams he monitors for us on the web - and it's another "doozy", that's for sure.

And Steve appends to his email a news report that nearly a quarter of UK adults are planning to keep their heating turned off this winter - yikes !!!!!

The Venn diagram is certainly right about the slow pace of the Tory leadership contest - to be honest I'd forgotten it was still on. I hope the candidates haven't forgotten about it too !!!!

I suppose that if they HAVE forgotten, then Boris has to carry on, are those the rules? I think we should be told,  and quickly!

What a madness it all is !!!!!

20:00 We watch an interesting documentary on the Smithsonian Channel about Jamestown, Virginia, the first successful English colony in America, founded in the early 1600's.

Lois and I, with our two young daughters Alison (7) and Sarah (5), visited Jamestown in 1983, and saw many of the reconstructed buildings from the colony's early days. We learn tonight, however, that archaeological work continues at the site, possibly identifying the body of the first Governor, Sir George Yeardley, buried in the remains of the first church.

It's an interesting phase of American history - witnessing at the same time the first ever democratic assembly on the continent, but also showing the beginnings of slavery, because the first African slave-ships arrived at Jamestown in these years: Yeardley was the first ever English slave-owner on the continent. The franchise was still limited - male property-owners only - but was still significantly wider than the franchise applying in England at the time, so it was genuinely radical.

Flashback to our visit in 1983:

1983: Alison (foreground, left) approaches the statue of Sir George Yeardley

at Jamestown, site of the first successful English colony in America

Alison and Sarah outside the ruins of the old church

Alison again - in the background, the reconstruction of the 

flimsy-looking ship that, incredibly, brought the colonists here from England...

this is me at Jamestown, aged 37...

...and Lois, also 37 - as we stand on the little ship

Happy days !!!!!

21:00 Hurrah - the TV quizzes are back tonight, ending several months of "brain drought" on TV, and seemingly all is right with the world again! Tonight we watch the first of a new series of "Only Connect", which tests lateral thinking.

Traditionally, Lois and I try to get correct answers that the teams don't spot, but we're out of luck tonight. Not only are our brains becoming more jelly-like with every passing year, it's also the case that the two teams tonight are really good. And although we get some of the answers, the teams tend to get them too, which is a pity! No fair !!!!!

There are always useful snippets of knowledge to pick up however, which is nice. Like, for instance, the connection between these 4 seemingly random items:

The answer is that these were all ways that, in various times and places, you cast ballots when you were called upon to vote about something. Lois and I guess this correctly because we know that the Ancient Athenians used to carve their votes on broken pieces of pottery, called "ostraka" - incidentally the origin of our word "ostracism".

In Japan you have to actually write down your candidate's name on a blank sheet of paper - it's thought that if you were given a sheet of paper with the candidates' names already printed, it would give an unfair advantage to the first name on the list, which is fair enough.

In Gambia, until recently they dropped their marble into one or other drum, and the sound of it was a vote for that candidate. Whereas in France you can get the appropriate pre-printed slip which you just drop in the box.

Fascinating stuff !!!!

22:00 Brains totally exhausted, we go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!