El Andalous - Clear Out

Cupboard - Half Way There; 3 In Order, 1 Cleared, 2 Messy

So, 2017 started off with a manic attempt by me to get organized. As well as reorganizing my kitchen and bathroom a bit, I thought I may as well throw out some items and reallocate places for storing things.

This was also more difficult than I’d anticipated.

I had one shelf in my bedroom that was full of broken electronics (a non-functioning iron, a coffee maker without a jug, a broken laptop, a broken camera). I’d avoided throwing them away because it seemed so wasteful in a country where many people can’t even afford to eat. Besides, I liked the coffee maker but couldn’t find a replacement jug to fit. Somehow, I thought if I just hung onto it, a replacement jug would suddenly magically appear. In the mean time, I’d bought another coffee machine (but not so nice).

As for the iron, I suspected it just needed a fuse, but it had one of those sealed plugs where you can’t really get inside it. I’d bought a new iron, but was reluctant to throw my other one away when I was convinced that it could be so easily brought back into working order.

The camera was still working, it was just that the pictures it took were all out of focus. I know that’s useless, but I’d been fond of the camera when it worked, and just maybe it would spontaneously correct itself.

Anyway, I got all this stuff out and as I looked at it, I could feel my old reluctance to throw them away resurfacing. You can see why I was really into Parapsychology at one point.

I distracted myself by turning to my very dusty shelf below my television where I had all sorts of things that I didn’t really know what to do with. There was an old double cassette recorder / radio player, a bunch of cassettes, a bunch of DVDs, some magazines, and a pile of electronic connectors that I may or may not need.

With a reluctant sigh, I came to the conclusion that I needed to throw all of these out, apart from the connectors (although I’m a bit puzzled at how I ended up with 6 sets of earphones and 4 mini-USB connectors). And then I had the bright idea that I could ask Joke if she wanted to sell the items for charity. At least this way, some good could come out of it. And maybe she could also take my broken electronics (Egyptians are very good at mending things and reusing them until they absolutely cannot be mended any more). I emailed her and she said yes!

This inspired me to check whether I had any clothes that I needed to throw out. I went and retrieved an old favorite dress and favorite cardigan that had both been ruined by some sealant spilling on them. They were my favorite items and I didn’t really want to face up to the fact that I couldn’t wear them any longer.

I got distracted yet again, now in attempting to find on the internet a way to remove the sealant. Full of optimism, I spent quite some time employing a variety of tried-and-tested cleaning methods, all of which failed. I’d been through all this rigmarole before, when I first realized what had happened to my clothes, but somehow I always think that if I try again, it might suddenly work second time round. For someone that studied logic at university, I’m not all that rational.

While I was doing this, I remembered that I'd meant to try cleaning my sofa again, which has got stained with dust and water marks. I went back to the internet to remind myself of what the recommended cleaning methods were. Again, I tried those trusted techniques and failed.

Looking at my flat now, I realized that in my attempt to tidy up, I’d just brought the whole place into complete chaos. All my junk was spread out everywhere. All efforts to fix had failed (I hope you like the F, F, F alliteration). I hadn’t even gone full circle; I’d ended up in reverse.