Overburdened

I'm quite accustomed to shopping by foot and public transport, using a hand-basket in the store to ensure I don't acquire more than I can hand-carry home. Occasionally, I overdo it a bit. Today, for instance, I went to an office supply store and bought:

4 dozen file folders (in three packs)
8 hanging file pockets (in two packs)
2 boxes of hanging file folders
3 pairs of metal bookends
1 computer lap desk, wrapped in slippery plastic film.

They packed this for me in two flimsy carrier bags, leaving the lap desk to its own devices. I then went next door to the electronics store and bought a couple of other things, fairly light. As I was coming out of there, one of the carrier bags lost a handle. I made it back to the bus station juggling the two bulky -- and heavy -- boxes of folders in the remains of the bag, while also carrying everything else, pausing a couple of times to regroup. Fortunately, it was a nice cool (90 degree) afternoon. Once on the bus, I managed to reconfigure things a bit, putting the boxes in the electronics-store bag, and that held until I got home. My hands and arms are literally quivering with fatigue at this point, and I'll probably be stiff tomorrow, but at least I have the wherewithal to organize the study.

It did cross my mind that this kind of errand would be easier if I had a car -- but first I'd have to learn to drive. Also, it seems a little unnecessary to pay to move around a ton of metal and plastic just to transport me and a load I can carry by myself, if only barely.

Now for a nice cup of tea!

Restless

I've been restless, lately -- not discontented with the fundamentals of my life, but ready to make changes in the superficial things. I've bought an MP3 player -- not an iAnything, I hasten to add -- and I'm seriously wondering about getting a cheap pay-as-you-go apology for a mobile phone, just for emergencies. I bought more new clothes this fall than I usually do, and more new bookshelves, enough to trigger a wholesale reorganization of the study and bedroom that's still in progress. I'm on the point of purging piles of boxes and junk, and I'm not entirely sure how far that's going to go before the end. Time to part with the box the vacuum cleaner came in? Time to get rid of some very old clothes I hardly wear any more? (That's a tough one. I mostly hang onto clothes until they're so out of date and shabby that no thrift store would want them, but it goes against the grain to put things in the garbage that aren't in holes or hopelessly stained.) Time to find a better home for the five-year-old desktop computer I barely use, and maybe get a wireless print server instead?

I just have to remember that it isn't, in the end, the possessions that matter. Still, it probably wouldn't hurt to pay a little more attention to the things around me, for once, if only to dust and tidy and iron so that I don't feel embarrassed asking for someone to come in and light the furnace.