Duncan Bell is sparking joy

You can have too much of a good thing – especially when it comes to its packaging

- Duncan Bell

Do you remember Marie Kondo? She was huge a few years ago, thanks to her winning philosophy of decluttering your life. ‘Look at all your possessions,’ she said, in Japanese, ‘and decide if they spark joy.’ Although interestingly the expression she used actually translates more accurately as ‘decide if they spark fluttering, throbbing or palpitations’. At least according to Wikipedia.

Those of your possessions that did not make you throb and flutter should be discarded at once, Marie advised sternly yet adorably.

I always thought this was sage advice in theory but remarkably hard to adhere to in practice. After a year or more of lockdown, it’s become all but impossible to follow. Brands have continued to send me mountains of stuff, and with the office shut it’s had nowhere to go but my spare room, which now looks like the back room of an upscale charity shop.