The top shelf

At last the third duvet is back in the top cupboard! You probably think that it's because the weather has warmed up sufficiently to discard it. That is true. It got folded and put on the chair, waiting for me to put it away. Unfortunately I am vertically challenged and even a reasonable low cupboard requires a stepladder if I want to put anything in it. Why we bothered with anything higher than my head in the kitchen is still a mystery. Once something has been put on a high shelf, it can be ten years before it sees the light of day. Every so often, I take out the stepladder just to see what's in the cupboards. Usually I can't come to any decision about what to do with the jersey I knitted when I was 15, or the china biscuit barrel that I just might use one day, or even the neatly folded pile of bubble wrap which I might want to use if I ever need to move house. And so everything gets put back on the top shelf and the doors are closed until the next bout of enthusiasm some years down the line.

But back to the third duvet...

Every morning I would look at it and think, 'I'll go and get the ladder' and by the time I got to the kitchen, I had completely forgotten about it, having been distracted by the view of Table Mountain, or the clouds scudding across the sky or even a ship passing by in The Gap. Later in the day, I would look at it and think, 'I'll to and get the ladder' and once again, by the time I got to the kitchen, I had completely forgotten about it. There are too many other things to think about and do. This went on for four days, but this morning, as I walked to the kitchen, I said to myself 'Get the ladder, get the ladder, get the ladder...' and it worked.

While I was up there, looking at the top shelves of the bedroom cupboards, stuffed to bursting with an assortment of blankets, duvets, old pillows and the like, which you never know when you might need, my thoughts turned to giving them a clean out, but I will have to be ruthless and take a black bag with me to make sure that at least half of it doesn't find its way back to that top shelf!