Collections

I once met a lady who collected Santa Clauses. She had over a thousand Santa Clauses, over half of which she had made using anything, from oil-cans to coconuts. She painted Santa Claus on glass bottles, or made a crochet Santa around a plastic bottle. She used the cover of a cheese-tin, a shankha, cane nets, ceramic pots, stones, rope, clay, everything, to make different kinds of Santas in different postures.

My sister used to collect tissue paper. Wherever we went, she picked up a tissue paper. It became something she enjoyed so much that people started sending tissue paper from different places to her. I remember once a close friend of my father’s even sent her a courier package full of tissue.

As a child, I recognised it as a need to work towards a goal, a single-minded determination.
I started collecting pencil-shavings.
I collected one and put it in a small self-sealing bag.
I collected another and put it in a small self-sealing bag.
I collected another and put it in a small self-sealing bag.
I collected another and put it in a small self-sealing bag.
I collected four in all.
And then I gave up.

Maybe if I’d thought of doing this, my collection would have gone a little further.