Keepers seem like a very distant memory today but I recently got a note that reminded me of those days gone by.

There was once a time when mothers might wash aluminum foil after they cooked in it, and then reused it. The original recycle queens, before they had a name for it... Or the father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones. It was also a time for fixing things -- a curtain rod, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. It was a way of life. Re-fixing, reheating, renewing. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

Certainly some of those concepts carried over with me. Every time I finish up an unusual container, be it plastic, cardboard, or whatever, I think now what else can I use this for in lieu of tossing it. Maintaining my old MG all these years has taught me never to throw away anything that

 

dlq,

My dad was the ultimate when it came to this. I have strong memories of two things, in particular.

One was his Hoffritz straight razor. He used the same razor for 20 years when one day part of it went down the drain. He tried many others but hated them all. Years later, a plumber came to unblock that sink and lo and behold there was the part that had washed down. My father reassembled the (now pitted) razor and back into service it went.

The other thing was Forhan's toothpaste. This was a product from India, I think, that my dad used most of his life. I think it stopped being available some time in the late '60s. My father horded the stuff for maybe 10 years. There were still some unused tubes in the house when ultimately the stuff became unusable.

I think the post-WWII mentality is completely gone in the modern world. I think the insane '80s killed it entirely. People don't save, they don't repair, and they dispose of everything. I consider myself, personally, to be somewhere in the middle.

You MG owners, though... You guys are unquestionably of my dad's ilk.

 

I have a coffee can full of old screws, nuts, nails and fittings down in my basement. I never seem to be able to find the one that I want, but they are way too good to throw out.

I still have the Whitworth wrenches from my TD. They don't fit anything that I own, and I doubt that anyone will ever use W sizing again, but I refuse to throw them out.

I still have bank statements from banks that don't exist any longer.

I could go on and on, but us "collectors" are all alike.

 

So, what are those W sizes, Rob? Do they bear any relation to inches or millimeters?

 

Charlie

I think Dave can probably explain it better, but I think it was based on inches. The W stands for Whitworth.

 

I think about waste everytime I go down for lunch or whatever and use those plastic dishes and silverware. Imagining where all that stuff is going (or NOT going). I try to reuse/recycle as much as possible, but we are living in a throw-away world. My dad is like Rob - he has a basement (very well organized) of screws and nuts and bolts in jars, etc. Maybe somewhat of a carryover from his days in the antique clock business, but still alot of stuff he'll never use.

 

The Brit

 

I suffer from this and I think it's a curse. I have a house full of crap I can't bear to part with. One of these days I'll rent a dumpster and get rid of all of it. Otherwise, it will just end up being a burden to my heirs who will have to get rid of it all when I die.

 

For many years I kept old television chassis, radios, and various electronic and computer parts. I always had the hope of one day making something work, or using parts to repair existing equipment.

I built my first three computers from scratch, along with the serial terminal to talk to it with. My first real computer was an Apple II+.

All of it was tossed in the garbage several years ago when I came to my senses and realised all that crap was so out of date even a museum wouldn't want any of it.

I also kept all of my magazines, things that were hobby and car related. Shortly after we were married we were moving from our apartment to a house, and I had to toss a ton of stuff. Part of what was tossed were magazines I had kept from before we were married, mostly car magazines and Playboy and Penthouse. Late one night I pitched everything into the dumpster; the next morning I noticed the car magazines were still there but the girlie ones were gone.

Nowadays I collect plastic model kits; I fully intend to build each and every one of them, even though if I complete one a week the stash will in all likelyhood outlive me.

Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dlq04
The Brit