Bureaucrazy

Mr M had asked for help to tidy his bureau. To Mission Control a bureau meant paperwork. When Mr M folded down the front of the cabinet, inside Kash and Sevan saw pens, old batteries, measuring tape, thread and more all crammed in behind the panel. No papers.

Mr M explained that he was completely blind after a long period of increasing sight loss. Over the years, he'd collected lots of bits and pieces in his bureau and he needed help to organise what was important and throw away anything that wasn't useful.

Kash and Sevan set out the rules of engagement first. Everything coming out of the bureau either went into a waste bag or a second group, later to return to the cabinet. Mr M agreed to that, so they got going.

Kash took the lead, describing each object that she removed from the cabinet and often gave them to Mr M to feel and identify. Sometimes when Kash's imagination failed her with some more unusual things, Sevan stepped in, for example "that's one of the pins from an electrical plug. The rest of the plug is missing". Mr M was fairly good at deciding what to dispose of, so Kash and Sevan only needed to give a little encouragement here.

Other items they discovered were:

• 4 mouse traps, replaced by a cat
• 2 cat collars, cat unseen
• At least 10 tubes of super glue, mostly rock solid
• Lots of old keys
• 8 identical looking top left corners of pages torn from AGM reports

Mr M guided Kash on where to place each of the items to be kept and by the end of the task, the main compartment of the bureau was perfectly in order. The lower drawers will have to wait for another day.