I hate stickers

Stickers are one of the most disgusting things invented by man. I liked them well enough when I was young, what kid doesn't? They decorated the nicely-painted surface of my dolls' house roof. Years later, I lamented the mess and tried to get them off, but that only made things worse. Now I've learned that baby oil is the trick - soak it once or twice and it comes off cleanly - but I didn't know that then.

I suppose then that it is the removal of stickers that causes the most grossness. As long as you never try to peel that bugger off (and if it doesn't start coming off by itself), it'll probably be okay. But with the pricetags adorning so much of what we buy, a bit of peeling is inevitable. Some come off without too much trouble, although the detritus is still yucky. Some leave a horrible sticky residue that attracts dust until the glue is covered in gunk. I bought a pen recently that had one like that. Since I was travelling at the time, the lack of baby oil meant I actually would have had to grip that gunk to write. So I was glad that the previous pen didn't cark it just yet - if it had, I would have done my darndest to swap the cartridge.

I freely admit that this is a first-world problem!

The Colour of Fluff

There is a reasonable amount of information that can be deduced about a person just from looking at the fluff they produce. I have worked as a cleaner often enough to notice different types.

My own fluff, for instance, tends to be of a purplish hue and shot through with large quantities of cat hair. Of course, purple is the colour I wear most often so the fluff from these clothes fills my surroundings and then occasionally, my vacuum cleaner.

Photo: Apartment Therapy

Private houses I have cleaned do tend towards various colours, some red, some blue. Offices are mostly just plain grey. And when I worked at the deli in Germany, the moppings from the floor were deepest, darkest black, because the fruit was set out on stands inn the street and we were forever traipsing in and out in all weathers.

I realise that a lot of the things I write here are fluff. Give me time; I'm still warming to my task. In the meantime, perhaps the nature of my fluff will reveal various facets of me, and it will have been worth our time - yours and mine.