Well, I didn’t put the brush down in the wrong place at all; I actually put it away neatly, and that’s when things went wrong. You see, I’m sorting through the different types of paint and, whilst doing so, organising the corresponding canvases and types of paper, as well as the palettes and brushes. I also know I’d put it in the little cupboard under the desk because it’s too long to fit in the box or the tray I use for my other watercolour bits and bobs. Maybe it’s still right at the back of the cupboard – I felt around with one hand – but I couldn’t be bothered to unpack the whole cupboard again and crawl around in there.

I recognise that feeling of popping into a room to fetch something, and then forgetting what it was. That doesn’t apply to the washing, mind you, because we use the washing machine as a laundry basket – so anything that’s dirty goes straight in. What does happen to me is that when I go somewhere to do or fetch something, I get distracted because there’s some drawing or painting stuff lying about, and then I think, ‘Oh, I’ll just do this or that,’ and before I know it, I’ve lost track of what I was doing, hahaha.

Chestnuts are really handy. Did you know you can also make soap from sweet chestnuts to do the washing with?
Of course, you can also roast and eat them.