During the past few weeks the kerbs in our neighbourhood have been piled high with an assortment of unwanted junk. It’s the days of kerbside collection and slow ute drive-bys. I was tempted by a few items on those piles. Wicker bed heads crying out to be re-purposed. Chairs that could be comfy again with some new upholstery. All the discarded prams, grubby but otherwise perfectly functional. Abandoned, tiny, little bikes with owners that had outgrown them. Hundreds of dollars once spent and now forgotten. I felt a keen sense of wanting to rescue all these things. Then I remembered that my time was limited and anything gleaned from the roadside would probably end up in next year’s kerbside collection.

It got me thinking about clutter. About the very human practice of obtaining things and then seeking freedom from them. Read more…