I think I should stop mentioning the boggart here, I think it’s gone to his head. Just in case you’re not sure what a boggart is, he’s a charming little fellow who lives quietly and inconspicuously in your home and keeps well out of anyone’s way. Grateful to have such a lovely home he tries to be helpful in any way he can. You know when you put your keys down, or your glasses and literally the next moment you can’t find them and eventually you find them on a shelf in a room you’ve not been in, or a pocket of a coat you’ve not been wearing? Or you open the fridge and your hairbrush is there, or the bag of sugar you bought is in the cupboard with the cleaning products, or you find a rarely used drawer full of all sorts of things you’ve been looking for for ages? Well I’m pretty sure that indicates that you have a hard working boggart.
So what has our boggart been up to? A family member has moved back home for a while with all their possessions, so obviously there has been a lot of rearranging of things, the phrase ‘quarts into pint pots‘ springs to mind. Having settled in, and life has returned to normal, just recently I’ve noticed piles appearing – not just piles of ironing I haven’t yet put away, but piles of other clothes – a stack of jumpers, a basket of socks, a basket of random stuff which has a whole stack or neatly ironed tee-shirts at the bottom. Then there are books – odd stacks of books against a bottom drawer so you can’t open it, another situated where it’s most easy to catch your foot, trip over and kick a variety of volumes all over the place. I also keep finding carrier bags of papers – old correspondence, greeting cards, random envelopes, calendars from several years ago. I can even see a tower of baskets, a mountain of shoes.
Maybe the boggart overheard us talking about getting rid of unwanted items and is trying to lend a hand, or give us a hint. Whatever, tomorrow, I will grit my teeth and dismantle the piles, consigning as much as possible to recycling, charity shops, given away or resold!
Lois Elsden 