Wednesday 10 April 2013

I just can't Lego of anything...

I was very good today, and had a sort out of the various bits of junk in the bottom of my wardrobe. Charity bag and bin bag to hand, I hauled out tons of shoes and bags and sorted them into relevant piles. Having done this several times in the past, I was determined to be ruthless. I would not hang on to the hopelessly outdated boots on the off-chance that they would come back into fashion. If something was broken, it went in the bin, rather than me thinking I would mend it 'one day'. Anyway, I ended up with a big bag of rubbish, two charity bags and some 'can't-bring-myself-to-throw-it-away' things which went in the loft (probably to be thrown away sometime in the future).

Our loft is full. One day, we really need to get everything out and give it all a proper sort out. We have boxes that have been moved from the loft in our old house to the loft in this one, and we moved nearly ten years ago, so I'm sure that stuff isn't needed. Most of what is up there belongs to the children. There are boxes of soft toys, which have been looked through several times by the owners, who dragged everything out, exclaimed over fondly-remembered teddies, and then put everything back again. (I do have sympathy here, I must admit. How can I ask the children to throw a once-loved teddy away? It would lie there, looking up at me every time I dropped something in the bin, making me feel so guilty I'd no doubt rescue it.) We've tried selling things in yard-sales, but no-one seems to want that sort of thing. We need to be hard-hearted and take slightly less-loved things to a charity shop. I remember when the children were young and wanted to swap the piles of soft toys on their beds, and give something in the loft a turn. I used to get instructions not to tie the top of the bags too tight, or the toys wouldn't be able to breathe. God help me if the children saw me leaning on the top of a bag to squash everything down. 



Apart from soft toys, we've kept some of the nicer stuff the children had, things I want to hang on to as future grandchild fodder. A whole shelf is taken up by a Playmobile doll's house, with assorted miss-matched furniture. Then there are the Sylvanian Family boxes. We have a canal barge, a cafe, a Gypsy caravan and thousands of tiny little accessories (well, the ones that survived the hoover...). I loved the Sylvanian Family things. In fact, I think I wanted them more than the children did. 

And then there's the Lego and Duplo. Days were spent on ambitious building projects, with frequent whines from the Husband and me of, 'Are you going to clear this up soon?' Of course, the answer was always yes, followed by another few days of building and demolition. My eldest two still argue over who stole the solitary black brick, which was essential as a finishing touch. I have a suspicion, that if I were to get the Lego bricks down from the loft, there would soon be two large teenage boys reliving their building days (and the Husband would no doubt join them when he got home from work. I, on the other hand, would be quite happy setting up the Sylvanian Family department store...)


So, I guess the stuff in the loft isn't rubbish at all and is probably there to stay for a good few years yet. You know - to hell with it - I'm going to get the Lego out...


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