When Things Just Disappear


Even when we just move from upstairs to downstairs, we lose three baskets of grain.
Old Hakka Proverb

You all know I love a good proverb, and this is only one of the  proverbs mentioned in Beyond Lion Rock, a memoir by my Hakka friend Nancy Kwan. (Available here – scroll down for blurb & purchase info. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll say awww a good number of times too.)

As anyone who has ever moved house can testify, this proverb is right on the money. And I think the opposite is true too: when we don’t move for any length of time, basketfuls of stuff just appear all over the place. Where does it all come from? And how do you get rid of it all – short of moving downstairs?

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