The chicken korma wasn’t great. To be fair, I didn’t expect it to be, not microwaved directly from the freezer cabinet of the local store. But it had the advantage of speed and heat. I had wondered why I had been feeling so rough, putting it down to the exertions of the house move…until I realised I’ve been living on cereals all week. A hot meal, albeit frozen and nuked, makes a big difference. And anyway, I’ve disconnected the cooker.
I had acquired the instant korma when I had gone to the village shop in search of one of the simplest, most basic of commodities. I had tried while I was in town after work this morning, but to no avail. The village shop, though, sells everything… from mousetraps to sealing wax, chocolate to cognac… and everything in between.
Well, almost everything.
Even they had no string.
You can’t move house without string.
How can you not buy string? Anywhere…
At the supermarket, I could, should I so choose, buy a holiday, a smartphone or even open a bank account. At the local store, I can have a bed delivered and place an order for foreign currency.
But I cannot buy a ball of string.
What, I was obliged to ask myself, is society coming to?
When not even the village shop that sells everything can furnish me with a ball of string, we are in trouble.
String has been around a long, long time. It may even predate the emergence of mankind from apekind. It was always a necessary ingredient in a small boy’s pocket. You cannot even play conkers without string! (Not that you are allowed to any more as you might possibly hit someone with a small, round seed…)
Curiosity drove me to the internet… where I can have string delivered, but not until after I have moved house… and only by paying postage and packaging, no longer tied with the aforementioned commodity…
There it was that I discovered the possible pre-human origins of string and its undoubted antiquity. But not until I had waded through a dozen scientific articles on string theory.
Image: Daily Mail Online…click to read full article.
I even found articles on how to make string… though it would be quicker to place my trust in the mysteries of the mail system…
And a post office that doesn’t sell string any more.
It beggars belief that something so simple cannot be obtained locally… yet none of the six stores I tried, all of which should sell string, could furnish me with anything more useful than blank looks.
I put it to you that this reflects the parlous state of the nation…
Meanwhile, I need to unpack my scissors and mangle my climbing ropes…
Hrmph!
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Hrmph! 🙂
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🙂
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Happy day, Sue.
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Sunday… when the move is complete and I stand in the new place surrounded by a sea of boxes, will be a happy day 🙂
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Yeah! Moving is not really fun. I have to move once again in about a year. I feel like having someone come and take everything to the city and dump, so that I can go to the new place, camp out on the floor, and slowing buy what is need.
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Me too, Jamie…
…and now I must go and dismantle a bed…
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Hrmph indeed!!! I can understand your frustrations Sue! !!
It’s happened to me several times too!!!
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Just a few ruddy yards of string… all I ask…
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Frustration. …..
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Yep…
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You’ll soon be looking back and smiling. You will, honest.
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I will. Sunday 🙂
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Hooray!!! 🙂
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Woolies would have had string. Sigh.
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Yep…
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By far the best title-first line combination I have read this year!
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Thank you 😀
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I ran into the same problem a while back. You would thing Walmart had everything…but no string.We finally found the right size string at the hardware store. Hardware. Who would’ve thought string was a hardware?
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daft, isn’t it?
We no longer have a hardware store…
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Beggars belief, indeed. I’m shocked. If Victor Meldrew read this, he’d utter a resounding, ‘I don’t believe it.’
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I feel rather Meldrewish at the moment, Dermott.
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You don’t have a hardware store or something akin to one? They are the last places that actually sell twine and string. Also, we have a place that sells wood and plumbing stuff and tools and they also sell a lot of basic things … scissors, string, etc.
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No… the superstore that passes for a hardware store does not sell string. Go figure.
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Could you use twin instead? Also, does no one fly kites there? Hmm, I am not sure if people here fly kites anymore come to think of it…
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*twine not twin
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They didn’t have any of that either…and no toy shops in the town any more.
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Well… that’s kind of sad. And a bit strange that something so simple and ubiquitous is now so elusive.
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That was what got to me, you know?
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Well, a hardware shop would have been the answer I would’ve thought but apparently not. I’m pretty sure my hardware shop sells string – I’d be totally strung out if they didn’t. A stationery shop?
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Good idea… there is an office supplies shop… I’ll try there in the morning…
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Good luck and broad tape is a good thing to have also …
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Thanks. Tape I have… reels of the stuff 🙂
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If only you’d asked! I’ve a ball of string sitting right here. Let me just check… yup, “Made in Papua New Guinea”… Ah. Um. Yah…. 😀 xx
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Ah, yes, well… you’re an engineer. Tool of the trade along with the WD40 and duct tape, no? xx
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Absolutely! All you ever need… 😀 xx
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😀 xxx
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Argghhh.. this is not helping my increasing feeling that I am not sure I belong on this planet. Or at least in “modern society”…
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I must be too high strung 😉
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That, Darcy, is bad, very bad 😀 🙂
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Very bad, indeed! 😀
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😉
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Love the Post (but, seriously, what did you need string for that Ani couldn’t snag/borrow from a neighborhood cat?? The curiosity in answer might be the end of this cat….LOL)
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I do not have time for making cat gut to tie my duvet round the mirrors for transport 😉 And anyway, Ani has abandoned me for the next day or two…
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how about knitting wool, the man made kind? Stronger than string sometimes, but would serve at a pinch… looking forward to you being safe and sound … and moved.
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Not a bad idea at all… except, I don’t have any and the nearest shop is miles away. The joys of village life 🙂
Roll on tomorrow afternoon… then I can unpack at leisure 🙂
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there must be a knitter in the vicinity, and they always have odd balls lying around. (apologies, that sounds wrong…)
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*chuckles* probably… but I don’t know one 🙂
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I actually bought a ball of string that was inside a tin in John Lewis’ a few months back. Why it was in a tin I had no idea. Then I noticed the small hole in the lid where you poke the end of the string, through. Wow! I was over the moon with my purchase. So much so that it’s sat in the garage since then. If only I was living next door, Sue. I’d happily share my ball of string (and its tin) with you.
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Thanks, Hugh… I shall improvise… which is doubtless how string was born in the first place 😉
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I’m guessing it was way back when the string-vest was invented. Come to think of it, you don’t see them for sale in shops anymore either. Maybe we’re on to something here, Sue? Next time I’m in a John Lewis store I’ll ask them if they sell string vests.
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Do that. I wonder if this is some insidious plot to render us more helpless than our forebears….
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The only place I’ve been able to find string of late, is the Dollar store … not even our local hardware store has it … Civilisation as we know it has gone to toe dogs!!! (apologies to Ani 🙂 )
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What about a craft store? 🙂
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I wonder how you managed – did you ever find string? I hope you’re able to stand after all that to-ing and fro-ing!
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Without string, you feel you can’t sing. But then you think: “tape!” And you’re wearing a cape.
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😀
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