moving on, moving out, using up

Alex came and dropped off a mirror here today - he's going through his stuff, packing things up to ship back to Britain and getting ready to leave Wellington to go back the slow way - fly to Hong Kong and then travel the rest of the way by train. One way to reduce those carbon emissions! And, as he pointed out, a much more exciting journey to look forward to rather than just dreading the moment when you have to go and get on the plane to leave.

I've started packing and sorting stuff too - working out what I won't need again for the next couple of months, planning my meals around what in the cupboards and freezer I can use up, finishing off various toiletries and decanting stuff into smaller bottles... all very familiar processes. At least this time anything that ends up getting stored is more easily retrievable. I know it seems a bit soon to be thinking about packing etc given how little stuff I actually have but I know how busy I'll be between now and Easter and I'd rather start off slowly and methodically.

I'll definitely have added my contribution to this place - so much of the artwork etc here has been done by previous Resident Friends. I'm no great painter but instead there are various patchwork cushion covers I'll probably end up leaving, a wall hanging and a collection of harakeke raranga (flax weaving) - baskets and I guess what is best described as a type of 'flower arrangement', not that they are flowers but they stand in a vase and look pretty! John is an artist - another painter - so no doubt he too will leave a contribution to the cause after his and Alan's stint here.

I'm not entirely sure how I've managed to acquire so much more 'stuff' since arriving here. I've hardly bought anything that hasn't been a direct replacement for something else, except for my stock of patchwork materials (which is probably the major culprit). Some things have been gifts, and some things I've made. It all somehow looks a lot more than it did when I arrived - maybe once it's all squidged into bags and boxes it'll look better? Or maybe it's more a case of I arrived with relatively very little having previously had a houseful, and now I'm trying to work out how to get it from one end of the Island to the other via a relay of lifts so am thinking of it in terms of boot space!

It does seem ironic though that as soon as I get oodles of new kitchen cupboard space I'm trying to wind down my supplies that go in them!