Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Little Victories



An absolutely stuffed recycling bin

Well things are proceeding, but damned slow. I'm held up somewhat by a work injury which is nagging and painful  but not particularly debilitating*. Anything to do with the back is a pain, but as it is keeping me from the gym and on a succession of pills I've been a foul humour.  I'm just about keeping afloat in work, but it's hard to get any of the extras done as it's making typing difficult and bah, humbug, fiddlesticks - that's quite enough self pity right there. 

Frankly there are folks out there with bigger fish to fry.  I would suggest you go have look. 

My pal Donogh taught me something once that was worth knowing; you never clean up a room in one go. There is always a point at which you have to look at the chaos around you and say "Well, I'm going to pick this one thing up and put it in it's place. Then at least I will have that done." I think the lesson of that phrase is that even small amounts of progress are still progress and the persistence is a virtue worth cultivating. With that in mind, though I haven't been able to clean the floor of the War Room to start staining it, I've at least been able to clear most of the box room. 

Part of that has been a major campaign to downsize the plastic mountain - which mainly consists of cutting figures off sprues and chucking them in zip lock bags.  It is extremely unlikely that I will be buying plastic figures anytime soon, but if I do - they're coming of the sprue immediately. I've been at this for a couple of days and I'm only close to being finished. 

That said, it is a collection ten years in the making. 




A magic box full of soldiers

It's amazing actually, I had four boxes of figures on sprues or in boxes and I've opened everything up and bagged them.  The resulting figures fit in one box and are a lot easier to get at and handle. The recycling bin is almost full and there are still some chaps to cut and bag, but it has freed up a considerable amount of space. 

It's been fun in ways. I hadn't realised quite how many extra British and French infantry I'd collected. 

It's not much of an achievement, but at least it's something. I shall keep trying to pile these little victories on top of each other. 

And stop snarling at the cats when they jump on me when I'm trying to do my stretches. 




*For those of you with any interest in how I came by it - I would suggest watching this instructional video as it illustrates a very similar situation, albeit with less crashing, falling off things and manly whimpering. 

19 comments:

  1. Why were you chasing Simon Pegg for work?

    FMB

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  2. There are attractions in the 'big bang' approach to tidying a room - one gets a sense of completion and can stand back and admire one's handiwork - but then nature abhors a vacuum and all that, and it soon starts to fill up again. So I have come to the conclusion that 'little and often' is more successful in the long run.

    This observation comes with the customary 'do as I say not as I do' caveat... :-)

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    1. True - though even the big bang approach has to start with picking up one things and finding a home for it.

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    2. For a moment I thought Steve was talking about blowing up the new War Room and got quite alarmed.

      However the even one thing approach is sound as is do a little and rest when you are injured!

      There is a pleasure of its own in doing archaeology in one's own cupboards isn't there.

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    3. It's like getting new stuff all over again!

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  3. Also, that the mess will get messier before it gets tidier.
    There: I've taught you all I know - go forth and spruce up!

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  4. I may have to do this myself at some point. I have far too many sprues of excess PIATs and 2" mortars floating around here.

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  5. Bad back, not fun. Get better soon

    Ian

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  6. Hope your bad back gets better soon, from my previous sporting life I can recommend Yoga and massage to help. Don't know if either would be for you?

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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    1. I've been getting a spot of massage and it's working wonders. The problem with Yoga is mainly finding one that I could attend. Shift work is unforgiving in that respect.

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  7. Yeah, back pain is no fun. I hope yours feels better soon!
    Good job on the sprue cleanup.

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    1. Thank you and today - hoovering the box room and making sure that everything is off the floor.

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  8. Sorry to hear about your back. I hoe it improves quickly. I am in the process of sorting my lead and plastic pile. It is quite shocking all of the stuff I have.

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