Boxes

We are the box people.

When we leave here, the packing will be done by the removal men. Pre-packing is something we can't start too early. By pre-packing, I mean clearing out, sorting out, and putting things in boxes.

We're getting rid of so much stuff, the Oxfam shop will think it's having a birthday. We need boxes for books that are off to find a new life elsewhere, and for the ones we're bringing with us. We were in the supermarket yesterday when Tony suddenly disappeared towards the store of empty cartons which are free for re-use, and carried so many back to the car he couldn't see over the top. I was gardening this afternoon when he came to tell me he was just off to the Co-op bcause the man there had said he'd keep some boxes for us. Look out, greengrocers, bookshops, manufacturers of microwave ovens. The Box Man is about. Watch the wall, my darling, when the gentleman goes by. (Anybody recognise the quote?)

Then there's the question of what we do with the boxes when they're finished with, assuming that they remain intact. Offer them to the cats' home? A bit of catnip and a few cardboard boxes, those cats will think they've died and gone to heaven.

At a previous church where we used to do kids' activities, the Cardbord Box game was a great favourite. (I may have told you about it before.) You spend two weeks previously going round the shops asking for cardboard boxes, the bigger the better, until you've got hundreds of them. Then you put the kids in groups and tell them they can build anything they like with the boxes, preferably to do with the theme of the day, so long as they don't destroy them. After that you can go away and have a coffee because the kids sort themselves out, they build dens and tunnels and have a great time. And when the day is over, they can jump up and down on them because they're easier to take to the tip that way. (The boxes, not the children.)

A couple of boxes of this and that went to a church sale today. There are cuddly toys on the stairs whispering to each other.

'Look out, guys. The Andrex puppy's gone.'