Feeling a bit daft today

why not get a wheelbarrow shaped planter and fill the void that way.... Or have a large glass of vino and toast all the wheely excellent times you had together!

Even better, you could have turned the wheelbarrow into a planter. Very rustic, very trendy,

Or plant some plants in place & shape of the wheelbarrow.

Thanks, I did try and use it as a planter a while ago, but the holes were in the wrong place, and it didn't drain properly. It was a very strong wheelbarrow, and couldn't drill more holes, hence it stayed in a corner for ages until yesterday.

When you've have something for such a long time it becomes part of your memories and gains sentimental value.

Would you please have a word with DH? He won't throw anything away and I'm sure we have loads of things which are of no further use in his shed and I know also in the loft. I worry about all the stuff we will leave behind for DSs to sort out when we die!

You are not alone Nonnie?

No, Nonnie, you are definitely not alone. I have that exact same worry.

Someone start a thread about how to get DH/OH/SO to get rid of accumulated junk please! I've just started a thread, someone else's turn.

I have a yellow bike called Matilda that has lived in the garden shed for nearly 40 years. My ex bought it for me when we lived in Manchester when he was a student and he and his friend did it up for me [it was at the time when we all though it would be impossible to travel anywhere; can't remember the reason...anyway, bikes were like gold dust at the time]. She's now been moved into the garden and is rotting away. She isn't even smart enough to put outside the house in case the Tour de Whatever passesthis way. She has to go to the tip. But I can't quite bring myself to do it. By the way...she's currently leaning on [you guessed it] our old wheelbarrow...[maybe they can go together [sob]...]

AuntieFlo.....Let It Go ?
Have a large G&T and raise your glass to an old friend ( aka
The wheelbarrow) and as soon as possible buy a new one, which hopefully will see you out.

I had a pang when the washing machine was replaced a week ago. A faithful friend for seventeen and a half years. But like wheelbarrows, washing machines don't have feelings. We need to get a grip! I will if you will.

Tegan2, big mistake to humanise objects by naming them. It makes final partings even harder. I was only saying that to Bobby Bosch the other day.

I have become a very hard woman and over the last 5 years I have 'moved on' more items than I can remember. DH has found it very difficult and mourns for everything he realises is no longer there. I am having to become ever more cunning now that I have moved my attentions to his study, his shed and the garage. We are about to have the outside electrics rewired and the garage needs to be tidied before the electricians can get on with the job. The garage contains many items we do not use, for example we have housed a roof box for over 30 years during which time it has never seen the light of day. I organised for that to be moved on last week and the gardener took it away in his trailer for his 'friend' who just happens to be someone who works in the local tip which he uses regularly due to his line of work. I made sure that DH found the keys for it so you never know but someone may well be glad to make use of it. DH said he would really miss Rufus the roof box!

Matilda was the replacement for Socrates who I bought all the way back to Birmingham from Cornwall only for him to be stolen when I left him outside a phone box I was in ...

Are you sure he was stolen, Tegan? Perhaps he ran back to Cornwall. I live in Devon, next door to Cornwall so could look out for him if you could give me a description...

Yes, take Matilda to the tip with the wheelbarrow. Tell the man at the tip that they need rehoming together, not to separate them.

I don't blame him for wanting to go back to Cornwall; I tried to get back there for nearly 40 years before I resigned myself to having to live somewhere else ...[he's blue but, unlike Matilda, doesn't have his name on his side....] I think Matilda is going to end up in a corner of the garden. I asked my ex today if he wanted to give her a home but he says he's trying to cut back on his two wheeled vehicle collection.

Tegan, round my way there are charities that take old bikes and get young people who have been in trouble to repair and make them over, as part of a rehabilitation thing, for both the kids and the bikes.
That might be an option for Matilda

I am ' letting him go' . The other day I cleared the space where he had lived for ages, of all the accumulated leaves etc, but after all these nice comments, it got me thinking. Of course he had feelings. He came from a nice family background, where he had been well looked after, until recently! I think he is now in a comfy corner at the tip, taking all other discarded wheelbarrows (and bicycles) under his wonky wheel and giving them the benefit of his wisdom. Then when they get called to the recycling machine, they go knowing they will be re-invented as a nice piece of shiny new steel? or something. Forgive me this morning, I'm off to gird my loins and see if I can find some new bras to fit me. They may even come with recycled underwiring ?

Make Matilda a feature in your garden. My next door neighbour is growing ivy around her old bike.

It might seem like an old and now useless wheelbarrow but think of the memories - all the lifting, planting etc. No doubt you feel that you are parting with those too - but they are still with you.
I've got my dear late husband's old Black & Decker Workmate in the shed - it's got paint spatters on it and takes up space. I rarely use it - yet I can't bring myself to part with it. Maybe I'll use it as a plant stand if I ever get a conservatory. It's not very aesthetically pleasing but still.

Auntieflo, I'm with you all the way. Yet again it's 'things' but it's the memories they evoke rather than the item. Long may we have human emotions even over inanimate objects. It's irreplaceable so don't bother trying but cherish the memories. Lucky us who have them.

Our generation repaired and continued using household items. Today's generation is a throw away society. If it breaks replace it. So they don't have the emotional connections that we do. I have managed to wean myself and if something isn't working properly or efficiently I will replace it. But i do wonder if getting rid of something old and decrepit hits a bit of a nerve because we are getting old and facing getting a bit decrepit ourselves!

It's easy to get replacements but not so easy to get rid of the things you are replacing! I have a cupboard full of pretty teapots without lids and cups without saucers......some saucers without cups but they don't match up! It seems so heartless to throw them away. I still love them. I like to see it as Wabi- Sabi......the Japanese way of seeing beauty in imperfections.