Radiating Positivity

Sevan and Kash didn't have far to run to visit Mr P, so they had decided to do a mission for him in the evening after work, or - in Kash's case - after a volunteering day at a local farm. When the GoodGymers entered Mr P's living room, they discovered it was covered top to bottom with football scarves. Mr P told them he was a proud owner of football programmes dating back to the late 1960s.

"I'm not a hoarder, I am a collector." - Mr P.

The GoodGymers chose to trust Mr P's statement. His place looked fairly neat - although Mr P said he already had twenty bags of stuff thrown away, and that the flat was much worse just after he had been discharged from the hospital.

Tonight's mission was to continue the decluttering effort. Mr P suffered from various health conditions: epilepsy, depression and lack of balance. He was finding it difficult to handle things when standing up and to go through his sentimental items without being sucked by the activity till the early morning hours.

Sevan and Kash learned about the sky-high prices of the skip hire and the fines for keeping stacks of collectables that the social service identified as fire hazards 🔥. The GoodGymers and Mr P had to work through his belongings to throw away bit by bit, limited by the capacity of the communal bin. The first objects to meet their destiny in the said bin or nearby were: a radiator, an old TV and a box of Mr P's Dad's VHS tapes. Next came duplicate football programmes or programmes Mr P was ready to part with.

"I read them, I will not read them again, will I?", said Mr P. "I have been collecting those programmes for years, and I know I don't need them. But who will take them? What do you think?"
"I am afraid we cannot advise on that. Maybe you have someone who you can contact about this kind of collectables?" - Sevan.
"My nephew. But I cannot ring him right now. He's watching football!" - Mr P, pointing at the TV with a match on.

Mr P didn't avoid a telephone call during the mission time though. Someone called him and engaged Mr P in a conversation about public money spending Mr P didn't want to participate in at the time. He played the I have visitors who came to help me card and politely ended the call.

"I don't want to beat the political drum, but I have one advice for young people: to get out of this country." - Mr P.
"I already got out of one country to come here." - Kash.

Having thrown away some stuff and rearranged other stuff, the GoodGymers offered to stay the full 90 minutes of the mission time. Mr P decided to turn them into human shredders. The last task was to destroy a whole box of Christmas cards with Mr P's personal data on the envelopes. When asked how he got so many greeting cards, Mr P explained he used to be a postman, serving the same postcodes for seventeen years. His customers got to know him very well and sent him wishes every Christmas. Although the cards brought good memories, those tokens of appreciation were a fire hazard, so they had to go, and the envelopes had to be torn into small pieces.

The mission made a big difference to Mr P, who was very grateful for the help with removing another batch of the items cluttering his living space.