Do you want this box? Part Two

On Thursday I received a message from a friend that said:

"Always loads of cardboard boxes in the Merrion Centre loading bay, get in by the hotel. Ask if you need more help."

After this fantastic tip-off, I met the him outside the Merrion Centre when he finished work and collected 7 boxes out of the recycling bins. And there were more, that's just all I could comfortably carry. (And I mean comfortable in the same way that trying to sleep on the megabus is comfortable.) So that's a supply I can tap into on any day it looks like I might not hit my quota.

I've also started thinking about how to transport all my bottles of homemade wine when I move, which led me to a stash of discarded brewery crates.  It took me a long time to work out that brewery crates would be the best way to transport my wine. I'd thought about just putting them in cardboard boxes with bubblewrap (no no no), and then about those cardboard fold-out wine carriers you get from the supermarket, but after having the question in the back of my mind for a couple of days I suddenly remembered these crates I had seen months ago (the sturdy plastic sort that hold 12 bottles) in the backyard of an empty house on my way home from work. I figured they have already been out of circulation so long that the brewery wouldn't miss them, so I might as well use them. I took one today (which I am going to count as today's quota for my "do you want this box?" challenge, even thought it's not made of cardboard), and I plan to pick up another crate each time I'm going past so that I end up with seven or eight of them. Because as well as carrying bottles, they also make great outdoor stools if you upturn them and put a cushion on top. Let's hope we move somewhere with a yard or garden!

I've been making wine for about 18months, and I've probably got about 50 bottles of wine maturing, dating back from when I started. I've also got 9 demi-johns still full of wine, which should be ready to bottle before I move (if not before), so that's another... 54 bottles! Over 100 bottles of wine!!

Wow. I'd never really stopped to think about how much wine I would end up with, I just kept making exciting new varieties, or making more of the delicious ones that got drunk straight away.