The domestic black hole

[Papyrus]

Does anybody else find their stuff keeps disappearing? Mine had got in a right old muddle so I've been having a sort-out and I can't help thinking there isn't as much as there should be. I have far less stock than many fellow Forumites, so it should be easier to keep track (sorry!) of, but for instance, I'm sure I bought at least 3 Minitrix teak coaches and now I only seem to have one. Ages ago I bought a Farish 4P to use the chassis for a project - there is no sign now of the chassis or tender, only the loco body. Which is the bit I don't want. Ditto a Minitrix Class 27 which I was going to repair - the body is still in the To Be Repaired box but the chassis is nowhere to be seen. Likewise I'm sure I bought some points for a previous layout but they vanished and I had to buy more. Where do they go? I don't belong to a club, so nothing leaves the house. I can't blame Mrs Papyrus - she doesn't have a clandestine layout, to the best of my knowledge. Nor the dogs... I keep looking in boxes I have looked in 5 times before but they never seem to come back from the Space-Time Continuum. Does anyone else have this sort of problem, or am I the only one with this level of incompetence?

Cheers,

Chris

[Newportnobby]

You've put them in that 'safe place', haven't you?
Have you tried your 'man drawer'? You know, the one with keys for unknown items, odd batteries, extinct mobile phones etc.

[zwilnik]

Definitely. Especially when I buy bits of useful material or tools for a specific job and then when I get around to that job I've forgotten what sensible and safe place I put them in.

[Papyrus]

Have you tried your 'man drawer'?

Yes, but which one? 

Cheers,

Chris

[Southerngooner]

I'm convinced there's a real Starship Enterprise up there that beams up bits just to have a bit of fun..... Stuff just disappears for months then turns up when they decide to give it back!

Dave

[Papyrus]

I have to agree. Similarly, I appear to have acquired stuff that I have no knowledge of or need for. That continental bogie freight car, for instance. Why have I got that? I really need to get a grip...

Cheers,

Chris

[chrism]

I have to agree. Similarly, I appear to have acquired stuff that I have no knowledge of or need for. That continental bogie freight car, for instance. Why have I got that? I really need to get a grip...

Do you have a use for one of those, or might do in the future?

[dannyboy]

I appear to have acquired stuff that I have no knowledge of or need for

I have noticed that. A few weeks ago, I was doing a bit of tidying up and came across a plastic case. On opening it, I saw that it contained a new looking Black and Decker electric drill. "I don't remember putting that away" thinks I, turns round and saw my, not so new, B & D electric drill on the workbench! 

[jpendle]

I sometimes find that my rolling stock has disappeared from my layout, only for it to miraculously re-appear well after I've given up looking for it.

And usually exactly where it should have been, creepy or what?


Small tools are considered permanently lost in their default state 

That's why I often have 2 or 3 identical tools kicking around,







somewhere ................








where's that tape measure 

John P

[chrism]

I generally have little difficulty in finding what I need - provided I haven't tidied up recently 

[Newportnobby]

I have to agree. Similarly, I appear to have acquired stuff that I have no knowledge of or need for. That continental bogie freight car, for instance. Why have I got that? I really need to get a grip...

Do you have a use for one of those, or might do in the future?

A grip just gives you more space to lose things in
(old fashioned expression for a bag for travelling that is smaller than a suitcase)

[martyn]

A grip makes a change......most people need a round tuit.

Martyn

[chrism]

most people need a round tuit.

I've got one of those, Mum gave me it years ago.

I never told her, but it doesn't work   

[Bealman]

As you can see, Chris @Papyrus you're not alone. It's obviously a global phenomenon, as I happens to me too!

[Graham]

SWMBO refers to my study as the "black hole" as according to her there is so much junk in there.