06/09/2026
There comes a point in almost every clear-out when the easy decisions have already been made. The clothes nobody wears have gone into bags. The broken things have finally been thrown away. The drawers are beginning to close properly again.
Then somebody picks up something that appears to have almost no value at all, and quietly puts it back.
It might be something made by a child years ago. A photograph that has followed the family through several houses. An object nobody particularly remembers buying. Its usefulness may have disappeared long ago. That does not seem to help when somebody suggests getting rid of it.
Season Two of Sankey Sunday began with a question about how a home is made. Over the weeks since, we have looked at rooms, choices, habits, furniture and the ordinary things people gather around themselves. But much of what eventually matters seems to happen after those decisions have been made.
Issue 015 is about what time does to the things that stay — and it brings The Making of Home to a close.
What's the thing in your house that nobody is allowed to throw away?
Continue reading https://www.johnsankey.co.uk/why-we-keep-some-things-forever-2/
