Today I began the task of trying to sort out my parents' house in Oxford. I've drawn up a plan of when I'm going to do each room and if I can stick to it we'll be in a position to sell everything I don't want to keep, in aid of OXPIP: the Oxford Parent Infant Project, sometime at the end of May or in early June.

I started with the attic and what a treasure trove that proved to be. Among the items I found were:

• A wig (which it turns out doesn't suit me)
• A collapsable top hat
  
• 2 fishing rods, 2 reels and my old tackle box (so that's where it went)
• The freedom of the city of Winnipeg. (For someone called Sir John JOHNSON - I'm sure dad was too polite to point out the mistake)
• Some strange ceremonial sword (probably Malay or Indonesian?)
• A backpack full of possesions of a student friend of my parents who dropped it off for a few months. In 1990.
• A paddling pool
• 100s of my mother's letters home to her mum
• A suitcase full of sketches made by my great-grandfather between 1880-1900. Basically his watercolour holiday snaps!
• A set of journals belonging to some ancient relative. How ancient? Well they cover that period between 1783 and 1796 which seems pretty ancient to me. File under "spidery writing".
• The membership list of the Whig Club 1795. I'm chuffed to see that my family have been putting the smackdown on Tories for over 200 years because one of the members is John Crace "builder and decorater, Hammersmith", my Great-great-great-great-grandfather!