GrumbleSmiles

I went to Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire recently and it gave me a whole new perspective on clutter.     The guy who owned it originally, Mr Charles Paget Wade, was an architect who liked collecting things.      All sorts of things, anything and everything.

It made me wonder if I have been going in totally the wrong direction with all this de- cluttering, perhaps Walt and George should have written a book called ” Seek it, Heap it and Keep it.”  (You can see my earlier blogs on de-cluttering by clicking on “CLUTTER” in the TAG CLOUD).

Mr Wade amassed a great collection of bicycles, swords, children’s toys, boxes, tins, fabrics, Chinese artefacts (although I didn’t know what they were) …….   and models of ships, cobblers foot lasts,  spectacles, kitchen pots, ladders,  silver goblets, glasses and pans …….   and wheelchairs, suits of armour, soap, beds, looms, samurai warriors, dolls houses …….  and books and telescopes and locks and coins and stones and sticks and jars and  model engines …….  and globes,  leather boots, ladies dresses.  I have probably missed just a few hundred things.  In one sense the house was full of clutter but because they were all things from the past, they were also curiosities.

The displays were head-spinningly confusing and not at all unravelled by any useful labels or explanations.  Hidden in the half-light of deliberately dark displays.    If there was any order to Mr Ward’s collecting, it was that there was no order!

It was GREAT !

Evidently Mr Wade wanted visitors to his collection to have the joy of discovery and this was behind his reasoning for keeping the collections poorly illuminated.  I don’t quite buy this logic because I found it more frustrating than illuminating.  I would suggest to the National Trust that they give every visitor a small torch when they enter the building.

He must have had a ball ………. and loads of money ………. and lots of time………and a very tolerant wife !       He wasn’t cluttering he was collecting for posterity.    He made a virtue out of hoarding.       Not a minimalist, he was more your gold-plated maximalist!

I wonder if I should get all my thrown-away clutter back from Daventry rubbish tip ?

There will be a copy of Walt Hopkins and George Simons’ book — “Seven Ways to Lighten Your Life Before You Kick the Bucket” — for the best ideas on de-cluttering.

Perhaps I should send a copy of Walt and George’s book to Mr Charles Paget Wade posthumously?

After a period of remission from my cluttering dissorder I’ve now started again with the help with the Tidy Bears.   (You can see all my earlier blogs on de-cluttering by clicking on “CLUTTER” in the TAG CLOUD).

I have mentioned before that we have lots and lots of spare glasses.   Probably numbering more than 100.   Quite why I have no idea, we just seem to have accumulated them over the years.

Here are some Bear explanations :-

• Patch thinks — ” Maybe John broke one of a set of six and didn’t want to tell MO.     So he bought another set of six.”
• Whitey Bear said ” Why do glasses come in sets of six?  What if you have seven friends ?”  John couldn’t answer that.
• Pyjama Bear asked “Do they have glasses for my night-time drink of Horlicks ?” MO said she didn’t, but she would buy a set of six tomorrow, because you never know when six sleepy Bears might come around.
• Little Ted politely enquired “Why can’t we have a Teddy Bears Picnic and invite all our friends around ? Then we could have honey and orange juice in glasses, and cream and honey in glasses, and just extra honey in more glasses.  We could also have honey on toast.  Brown toast, white toast and toast with the crust cut off, all smothered in honey.  Oh and honey ice cream in tall sundae glasses.  That should use up a lot of glasses.    Then we can do it all again tomorrow !  And the day after, and the day after that!”

Looks like we haven’t got rid of any glasses afterall.

De-cluttering continues with a wardrobe box which John visits every day.   In fact it is probably the most regularly visited part of his walk-in wardrobe.   So it needs to be easy to use, and yet it isn’t !

Why ?  Because Little Ted thinks it contains too much stuff.    Here are the Bear facts of what it contains with Little Ted’s premlinary observations ( in italics ) :-

• PANTS WHITE. —- 15 pairs —- Perhaps John has been eating too many beans ?
• PANTS COLOURED —– 9 pairs —- That seem to confirm my suspicions. 
• LONG JOHNS —– 3 pairs —– Oh dear dear, perhaps John has a chill.
• VESTS SINGLETS —– 15 —– Yes with all these vests he must be feeling the cold.
• VESTS THERMAL —– 10 —–  Indeed he must get very, very cold.

                 That is 52 pieces of underwear !

Little Ted says “What John needs is a Bearskin !”

This is John in his Bearskin onesie.  Although it might be a bit hot in the summer and I don’t think I will be walking around Kilsby in it.  Perhaps I’ll just keep it for pyjamas.