Days 7 and 8: "Paper shoes are all the rage, as long as you're not in the rain"

Day 7:
Not an item as such, more a job I've been avoiding. A massive pile of paper recycling to be carried to two streets away to the recycling bin (when did I become so lazy?). No doubt I will have to do this again at least twice before the pledge is up.


Day 8:
A wonderfully awful pair of trainers that I bought a few years ago, which have not been able to withstand the fact that I have had some kind of personality transplant and have started to play Netball weekly. The requirement for new ones hit me when I sprained both ankles in one game. So, out go old cheap ones, in come fancy new Nike ones. Oh God, what have I become.

Days 3 - 6: Clothing purge

Owing to various factors, including Belgians, Risk and a little bit of Shakespeare, this is a bulk post. This happens to be quite apt as all the things I have purged are in that same dreaded group - clothes that you don't wear but don't want to get rid of. I have, again, had to be harsh with myself and just do it.

Day 3: White, scratchy gloves. I only wear these when they coordinate, and then immediately regret it as they are ridiculously uncomfortable, and definitely too small. Gone.

Day 4: Horrible black shiny corset. I am not 14. Enough said.

Day 5: Red stripy New Look top that I once got told I could not wear in Scotland, as it obviously indicated my allegiance with the English. Completely daft. Also completely unflattering.

Day 6: Once-lovely white shirt from Next that I bought in a hurry in the days when I rarely set foot in Next. It was a good buy until the armpit seam started to unravel, and has been a massive hole for a while now. Attractive? I think not.

So, there we go. Some sort of clothes cull is likely to make up the bulk of the 100 days, and I now wonder why I kept all of these items in the first place... Ah, it's working!

Day 2: Saying goodbye to a staple

Not an actual staple you understand, but a staple item of my wardrobe. The black coat.

I've had it since Christmas 2004 - I know, I know - so 5 years is an incredibly impressive amount of time for it to have lasted. I have sewn the inside seams and the inside of the pockets twice, and they burst again recently, so much so that it's quite common for me to find money, tissues etc. in the bottom lining, and for me to put my arm into the lining rather than the sleeve. It was getting ridiculous.

So I have been desperately looking for another one for a couple of months - you can't go without, it's not possible - and finally found a suitable one yesterday, so it's goodbye to my 5 year old faithful.



[It's probably obvious by now that I have decided that this pledge can mean both getting rid of unwanted/unrequired items, and also finally replacing items that I have been putting off. Hopefully 100 days should cover it...]

Day 1: LBS - Little Black Shoes

So, the pledge goes thus:

I pledge to get rid of an item that I have every day for the next 100 days.

I'm a hoarder by nature - clothes, books, useless bits of paper. So this one is going to be tricky - I'm going to have to be ruthless and determined. I'm not sure how well this will work, but let's hope.


It began yesterday, and I surprised myself on the first day by getting rid of a pair of shoes that I wear all the time. Crazy, you might think. But the reason was that as I was leaving work, I heard the tell tale "soft-thud, CLUNK, soft-thud, CLUNK" sound emanating from the floor, which indicates that the heel on one shoe has work down to the metal. I've already had them re-heeled once, and they were cheap in the first place - so I decided that I was going to have to admit defeat. Thanks for all your hard work, shoes. Off to the clothes recycle bin you go.

People are always neglecting something they can do in trying to do something they can't do.

I've been neglecting this blog for a while now - apologies. To the non-existant people who read this.

Happy Paddy's Day! No, I'm not Irish. But I'm British, which means getting drunk on Paddy's Day. Standard really.

Did you know that Anananany is the inability to stop spelling 'banana'? Isn't that the most useful piece of information that you've ever heard it your life?

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

Hello 2009.

I'm all up for new beginnings, leaving behind the past and all that whimsical, positive jazz. But to be honest, 2008 was a brilliant year. I did too many plays, drank too much, spent too much, slept too little and exercised barely enough to tone up my little finger. And yet I still managed to graduate and get a job. So all in all, it was pretty damn good.

One of the best things is that I had a damn good New Year's Eve to welcome in 2009. We are all perfectly aware that traditionally the 31st December, as nights out go, completely and utterly sucks. This year was my first spent in London, and I had a brilliant time - which bodes well for all the other new years that I will no doubt be spending here.

No new years resolutions as yet. Haven't had a chance to sit down and think them through yet. Who am I kidding anyway? Does anyone keep them? The last time I kept one was 2003, and I think that one success per lifetime is quite enough.