Dear LPG,

I think that one thing we each should have all learnt over the past twelve months or so is a lot more about the details and intricacies of our interiors. I have always put a lot of not being sure of where things are down to a life of always rushing from here to there and having a mind that is preoccupied with my work, the projects and hobbies that I enjoy and all the people around me that I seem to always find myself promising to do things for, although, after a year of having little to do but rearranging, tidying and sorting all my possessions I still have no idea of where anything is when I really need it.

I don’t think it really matters if you live in a big house or a small room, with all the time we have had to sort out our possessions so many of us still don’t have a clue when it comes to finding certain things when we really need them.

Even though I have not visited a single friend for over a year now, telephone conversations with them have taught me that, for most of them, the knowledge of where anything is when it is really needed, whatever it is, is guaranteed to fail when you need it most.

When I lived in a house full of children and a spouse, I always accused them of losing what I wanted, when I wanted it, and I put that down to the differing senses of logic that each of my family members possess, although I now live alone I have exactly the same problems finding things as I ever did. But, with so much time on my hands to finally sort it all out, I did have a go and I think that I know even less about where everything, is as a result.

I recently got caught up in one of those online ‘scavenger hunt’ games where four of my family members were challenged to find some of those small household items that we all have in our homes.  It was a sort of trolley dash come ‘Supermarket Sweep’ challenge where the shopping items asked for were substituted with household items like a wooden spoon or a matching pair of socks, and I managed to produce the few items I could find well after all the others had theirs in front of their webcams.  I put it down to the fact that I don’t move as fast as I used to, but even when they offered me an extra time advantage, I still came last.

I know that the government’s goalposts keep changing, but as more and more of us get the jab, the end of lockdown can’t be that far away, so I suggest we all have one more go, at organising while there is time, although it might just be better to leave things as they are. At least that way some of your things might still be where you expect them to be.

HS, Forest Hill

Just in case there are any readers who have not yet learned what an online Scavenger Hunt is LPG has found an online explanation….

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