My kid sister is a hoarder. I’m talking big time here. Furniture, books, material, statues – what’s that about? Seriously, she could open a mausoleum with the creepy-arse statues she has in her home. I love her to bits, like her too, but her house never feels comfortable to me due to so much stuff in it.

What got me thinking about this? I had to renew the house insurance ready for next month, and although I have some nice furniture here, nothing I own is of significant value. Whilst I like my furniture, it’s ‘only’ pine. I’ve always been one for renewables, and pine is a fast-growing tree, so it’s ecologically sound, I think. The insurance man was asking if I have any gold or silver of value. No. Any art work? Nothing worth anything. Expensive TV? It’s second hand. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if he was just trying to get more money from me or was surprised at how little value I place on my stuff. It’s only stuff, and nothing I own is irreplaceable. I like my things, don’t get me wrong, and regular readers will know that I love my dining table, however it’s only stuff.

My Father was military, army to be precise, and because we moved so often, hoarding wasn’t allowed. Our rooms also had to be clean and tidy. Until the age of 13, we lived in so many different houses, in many different countries. At 13, my parents divorced, and life settled down. Due to my upbringing, I think, I’ve never been a hoarder of things. I’m not a total minimalist, however I can’t bear clutter, nor ‘useless’ ornaments and keep a tidy house. My kid sister has obviously gone the other way, and hoards things. My middle sister is a total slob and whilst she doesn’t have a lot of things, her home always looks like a burglar has been in and tossed the place. If she was burgled, would she even know? Who knows about my brother? We were never invited to his home and he remains a Walter Mitty type.

I confess: I hoard ‘consumables.’ We have food in the kitchen, naturally, however there’s also food in the wine cabinet – certainly not much wine in it, and dried and canned food in boxes under my bed. There’s at least 4 kg of sugar (I made a mistake calculating how much I needed when making marmalade and ended up with a lot left over) and 3 large bags of bread flour. I could feed an army so long as they like bread/pizza, pasta, lentil-based dishes… The freezer is also well-stocked including meat, fish, vegetables, pastries – gotta have those. We have 50 toilet rolls here, and enough laundry fluid to keep an army unit’s clothes washed and clean. I think it’s a winter thing; each autumn I start to hoard consumables in case the weather is bad, and we can’t get out. My son laughs at me, but he’ll be grateful if we get snowed in LOL. The dog hasn’t been forgotten and he has about 8kg of food here. Next month, I’ll order another 15kg sack, just to be safe – fussy eater.

My kid sister has a well-stocked floor to ceiling larder, and I admit, I envy her the larder though not the contents. She and her partner eat weird-ass stuff like tinned stuffed vine leaves, quince jelly, and weird Portuguese food. I’ve watched a series on American preppers I think they’re called. They have huge stocks of food and other consumables ready for the zombie apocalypse or similar. I’d love to live somewhere where I could have a huge storeroom of food like that. I’m not aware of going hungry as a child, so I’ve no idea where this desire to be well-stocked comes from but give me a remote house, and outbuildings, and a decent cellar for food and wine and I’d feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven. Sighs…

All this talk of food – I’m fighting off a cold that’s been lurking under the surface for ages now. I have little or no sense of smell, and so have little appetite. People often don’t realise how sense of smell affects the appetite. My sense of smell is often poor, and sometimes food just doesn’t taste good to me. My little stomach ulcer has also been playing up, so it’s been a dull food week. Monday, I didn’t eat dinner with my son, unusual for me. He went out at 6pm to see friends, and I cooked a few chips in the oven, and made a chip butty (roll to non-UK readers). A little salt and vinegar, and it was the best thing I’ve eaten all week. Seriously.

The heating has been on, and I have 4 layers on in the house. It’s been like this since the weekend; I’m perished. I have a 13-tog duvet, a blanket on top of that, PJ’s on, and a cardigan on in bed too, and a hot water bottle. Good job there’s no man as it’s not sexy LMAO. I just wish this cold would either b*gger off or come out properly and be done with. Then maybe I could enjoy the food in the house ;)