Mission Impossible (but we still bagged a small victory)

Ms M is a hoarder and proud bag lady. The '25 bags' mentioned in the task description turned out to be a very conservative estimate. The bag mountain we found ourselves climbing was around 3m wide, at least 2m deep, and 2-3m in height, with a relatively solid base strata of suitcases and long lost armchair, on top of which was a scree of plastic bags upon plastic bags with the occasional holdall erratic and a number of cuddly toys for good measure.

The task was to 'take down some bags' for Ms M to sort through in an effort to clear the space over the coming weeks (and most likely months). Ms M was particularly keen to see the bags at the top, furthest most part of the mountain. This required some climbing and a great deal of faith in the bag mountain structure.

With no alternative space to put the items, bags were ultimately returned to the pile. However, one small victory was won when Ms M identifed a bag of bags (some with cuddly toys) which could go to the charity shop (minus 3 of the bags which she wanted to keep for herself!). We all let out a whoop when we reached this milestone moment.

Anne agreed to take the bag of bags to a charity shop and found the local Cancer Research shop both open and grateful for the donation.