Little White Specks

[poliphilo]

When a paper tissue gets into the wash it divides itself into many, many parts- which then attach themselves to everything around- and if there's a woolly jumper in the mix they stick to it like burrs. This happens here quite often because my mother likes to secrete tissues all over her person- and even if I search her clothes before washing them (and I don't always) they can be so cunningly hidden - up a sleeve perhaps- that they get through.

Picking little white specks out of a woolly jumper is a long, long task, but absorbing and strangely soothing.