Articles from THE BLOT REPORT

Beds not burning

As readers will know, we are downsizing and have three beds to get rid of before we move. While you can sell a bed frame/base fairly easily, it is difficult to sell a mattress, and charities like The Smith Family, The Salvation Army or St Vincent De Paul will not take them. So, the only options seemed to be to take it to a place called Soft Landing in an industrial suburb where they are recycled. Fees apply1, and I have heard from another source that this will cost you about $50.

Robert Reich quote

Stephen Riley quote

A cave in Russia

Denisova cave, situated in the foothills of Siberia’s Altai Mountains, is the only site in the world known to have been occupied by both archaic human groups (Neanderthals and Denisovans) at various times, as well as by us ‘modern’ humans.

Bright spot

We have been flat chat here getting ready to pack up and decamp. On top of that, I have been up to my armpits in an editing job (a book of ~610 pages), but in among all this hard, sometimes tedious work was one bright spot. In the UK general election, the Conservative Party was trounced, suffering their worst defeat ever. Losing their seats were people such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, whose loss made my day. If there was ever a more pompous, vacant twat, I have yet to see one.

Harry S. Truman quote

Anonymous quote

Sold!

When we moved into our current house, some many years ago, we were a couple with two children aged 6 and 3. The young couple who bought the house are in the same boat we were in, some 30+ years ago; they have two small children of 5 and 3. I hope they enjoy their life here as much as we enjoyed ours.

Clinging on

As a bit of a giggle, a mate of mine sent me a short blurb from the Minerals Council of Australia, one of the lobby groups for the mining industry. It gives a list of a few minerals and suchlike that they mine1.

Home(less) stretch

In the attempt to downsize one has to sell one’s home and, to do that, one has to engage a real estate agent. It is they who advise you on how to arrange the various rooms, what to get rid of, and what to keep in place. They also have your home open to the public for an ‘open house’ at least once a week for the month leading up to the auction.

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