I hate clutter in the car, and make a real fuss when Edmund drops receipts and Tim Horton's doughnut wrappers on the floor and the unoccupied seats. Almost as soon as he was on the plane, I emptied the glove box of all the things I don't approve of, and now I can actually put the map book in there! Not to speak of some gloves.

On the home front, I have packed up the crockery and gadgets purged from the kitchen cabinets and the limbo shelves in the cellar (where potentially useful things go to await re-homing). The crockery, baking pans and kitchen gadgets are going to the Salvation Army. The biscuit tins, large Mason jars and never-used George Foreman grill have all been offered on Freecycle, and the Mason jars and electric grill are already on their way to new homes. So far, no nibbles on the biscuit tins.

I have also established a Craigslist account and offered my battered but quite usable copy of the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (the "scholar's edition", if you please) for the princely sum of $100, about right for 25 volumes in crumbling leather bindings. Only the dedicated Victorianist need apply ...

Next: the bins under the stairs! (No, not the bins!)