I live in a small apartment with one bedroom. I need a bigger place with one more bedroom. As George Carlin would have said, "I need a place for my stuff." My "stuff" is made up of my books and art supplies. There are no bicycles, no tools, none of Gran'ma's knick-knacks. I don't have every Barbie doll ever made, Beanie Babies, Thomas "The Painter of Light" Kinkade schotzkes or Fenton glass.
Books -- just books and art stuff and one fishin' pole, that's me. And Christmas ornaments and a fabric stash and my collection of real photo postcards. Oh, I forgot about all my little tiny race cars, a set of Cartier china, glass insulators, and the pickle jars I just hate throwing out. Coffee cans -- I love coffee cans and you never know when you might need one. I have totes on every doorknob and one of those totes is full of the $1 shopping totes I use when I go to the store.
Then there's my honest-to-gosh steamboat lantern with a Fresnel lens and the combination hole punch/binder thing-y Carl bought me to make calendars (I actually use the thing pretty frequently -- adding to my reading stash). I fold all my clothes and put them in drawers, hang up my coats and dresses, put my shoes in a line beneath the chest. And a miter box, an electric drill, as well as my very own jigsaw (I was so damn proud when I went to the big box store to purchase my own tools).
So why am I upset when I see garages in my neighborhood like the one above -- and there are a lot of them -- full of the ephemera of daily life. These houses have full basements, three bedrooms and a utility room. But there's no room for the family car -- or three.
Don't they make attics any more?
This Speedway resident has a nice tidy garage with actual room for their vehicles. The homeowners rent parking spaces to race-goers and the freezer is for the ice they sell, too.
But this one worries me. When I first saw it I thought the homeowners were getting ready to move. There are two of these storage units in the drive, as well as stuff hanging on racks just outside the pods. Crammed damned full. That was a year ago and it looks the same.
7 comments:
Glass insulators? Cool!
I never figured out why people stuff their garages full of crap. I swear I'm the only person in my neighbourhood who can fit a car in the garage. Sure, mine also holds a tumble dryer, a big ol' drawing board, a couple of beds that used to be in the bedrooms that are now a recording studio and a gym, my bike, a lawnmower and several sacks of crap but at least there's still space to squeeze the car in there when it snows.
I hope those storage pods don't make it across the pond; my neighbourhood would soon be solid with the things.
Yep, icy blue glass insulators. I've only got 3, but I've coveted them since I was a kid so am happy. They've been something of a craze here, dammit, and were pretty expensive. I got mine for a dollar each and get pretty huffy when I see $13 or more for them. I'd like to score a pair of those 3-foot tall porcelain insulators that are slender, ribbed cones, brown glaze.
For your reference: http://pods.com
and 1800packrat.com
Mmmmm … There's something cool about those things. If I were going to start collecting esoterica I think they'd be pretty high on my list (the insulators, not the pack rat pods).
Yes, there is something cool about insulators and I haven't figured out why I like them. My 3 for a $1 each was a lucky find; I have my own so am happy. However, when Carl and I went anywhere, we always enjoyed seeing what was being toted down the highway on big flatbed trucks and trying to guess where they might be headed. Sometimes, they were giant versions of the cone-shaped insulators, so big only 4 pair could be fitted on the truck. They each must have been 6 feet tall.
So glad you wouldn't be collecting rat pack pods, though you might make a fortune if you were to start the first UK franchise.
I think I'll stick to esoterica.
Actually, checking the cupboards I appear to have accidentally amassed quite a large number of vintage valves (vacuum tubes in US-speak) from hi-fi and guitar amps. I know some people collect those intentionally so I might hang on to them.
Lary could use 10 of those pods, then I'd have room for my stuff. I am always looking for a tiny art form because just how many 4X8ft paintings can yo9uhavein a 900sqft house. And I never go into the dungeon,if he takes it there, I never see it again.
Too bad about the paintings. If something wants to be 4x8-feet, it shows when you make it 1x2-feet. You know, the gesture of it just always seems like it wants to be bigger.
I have so many paintings hanging on my wall, if I make any more it'll start to look like the Louvre, only not as, umm. good.
You know, maybe when you don't feel good it just takes too much energy to throw stuff out, then you just begin to feel overwhelmed and give in to it.
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