Ha ha! dear Jamie, your cheese grater story gave me a good giggle because I’ve been doing much the same for the past few years. ‘Do I really need this? Can I do its job some other way? On this basis I have stopped needing a wide array of household items, including all those annoying gizmos that spend most of their time cluttering up cutlery drawers, like cheese graters (chop), tattie peelers (just don’t) garlic crushers (press with side of a wide knife) and veggie slicers (what the hell?!). 

My 2017 master stroke has been to get rid of the toaster (by giving it to son three) and use the grill instead. And when the grill stopped working I realised that I didn’t really need toast after all, especially as I was trying to reduce my butter intake and toast is, in my view, merely a vehicle for butter.

I now enjoy homemade oatcakes and soda bread, neither of which require butter. Result!

With my move to Tiree (hurrah) now less than one month hence (eeeek) I have discovered the joy that is Gumtree. Don’t want something? Don’t chuck it, Gumtree it! Through this free service, in the last month alone, I have sold two large wooden chests (£50 and £150 respectively), a filing cabinet (£30), a room divider screen (£30), two saddle pads (£30), a pair of boots (£25), a dress (£20), a rug (£25) and a Christmas box* (£20), and have rehomed two house plants (free). The list is ongoing.

What’s good about this? Let me count the ways. Simply, it clears the clutter and puts some pennies in the purse. Look a little deeper and it, 1) keeps perfectly good items in use, 2) reduces waste and landfill, 3) potentially and eventually might reduce production and sale of new stuff: the recipients are now not going to buy that item new. Look deeper still and there’s human connection, interaction and mutual trust – I have met some lovely people. And at its core, here’s a system that gives us a bit of volition back, a sense of control. It’s our marketplace where we can once more display our wares, haggle a price and do a deal without recourse to some higher authority, and have a good chat with a fellow human into the bargain. Wonderful.

I almost wish I had thought of Gumtree a few months ago when I was delivering stuff to the Charity shops willy nilly. But no, I like to support them too.

[* selling Christmas things before Christmas felt a bit “Grinchy”, but the item was a decorative box in which to stand a tree, which I will never use on treeless Tiree, and tinsel and baubles which, frankly, I never want to see again: there seemed little point marketing it after 25th! The recipient was delighted.]

Giving the pot plants away yesterday added another dimension to what had so far been a commercial venture. Within minutes of my posting the advert, “two leafy growers need a new home” I had two responses (are these folk just sitting on the internet constantly?) and an hour later a lovely woman presented herself at my door and we had a good natter and laugh as we tried the plants in various bags and boxes to find the best way for her to carry these friendly triffids home on the bus. She went off like a sprouting bag lady, a fern frond sweeping over her shoulder 1920’s style. Not to be too self-satisfied about such a small thing, but I really felt I had given joy (and my room is suddenly much brighter now the window isn’t obscured by greenery, so I have gained joy too).

Giving is such an easy win all round.

This morning’s post brought a mental health journal to which I subscribe. On a rapid scan of the editors’ intro. one quote sprang out at me. “What do you hold in your hand that you could give to others?” I have yet to read the article – about someone’s journey out of depression – but the essence is there in that question. Giving, by definition, takes us out of ourselves and helps us to focus on others. We stop focussing on “me” even if only for a moment (although the glow of giving tends to last for a while) and look, instead, at others’ needs. We interact with humanity. We feel better about ourselves as we can see, very directly, that we have helped someone else. Win, win, win. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that our world politicians could learn a thing or two from the giving of a pot plant.

Christmas is the season of giving of course, and this can be done in so many ways. By meeting in Iceland this week (from the disparate locations of New York, Glasgow, London and Minnesota) you and your family have each given of your time in order to find a place to be together and share connection, attention and love for each other. I read somewhere recently (must find the source) that a study* has shown that we connect best through eating, dancing and singing – I do hope you have been doing all three!!

Love and hugs to you and yours,

Jules

[* must have been a fun study!]