Magic technique for finding lost kit

[Keith_Beef]

A while ago, my Emberlit stove disappeared, as I wrote in another thread.

My special magic technique to make a disappeared object reappear is to go and buy a replacement article; this always, always works. So I went and ordered a Solo Titan with the 1800 cooking pot that it can fit inside of. And of course the next day, I found the Emberlit stove: in the cellar, hidden under a bag of split cane (for making woven cane seats and backs for chairs).

At the same time as looking for that stove, I was looking for my tent, a three-man dome tent that I bought from Decathlon years ago, but which is still in excellent condition.

I looked where it should have been. I looked where it might have been. Finally, I looked where it definitely should not have been, but where it could have been hidden by the gremlins. No joy.

Last weekend, SWMBO wanted to go out to the garden centre, so off we went. On the way, I suggested stopping off at Decathlon, since we had to drive right past it.

I started looking at the very few tents that were in stock. SWMBO wasn't happy that I was seriously considering spending money on a new tent, but I insisted on looking while she picked up some of those magical towels that dry in seconds and squish down to almost nothing.

Iin the end, I didn't buy a tent, or a hammock, or indeed anything at all. We got back in the car, went to the garden centre (where I didn't find the big bag of vermiculite I was after).

BUT... but... it seems that my magical powers are getting stronger. I now no longer need to buy a replacement for the lost item to materialise. Just THREATENING to buy a replacement has made my tent materialise!!

SWMBO found it on a chair in the attic.

 

[Keith_Beef]

HA HA! Done it again!

I've been searching for my Voltcraft K304 four-channel thermometer for a couple of months. I found a couple of K-type thermocouples for it, where I expected to find them, but the thermometer wasn't with them, as it should have been.

So this afternoon, I went to Conrad's website and put a new K304 (although the site now calls it a K204) into my shopping basket, then went out to pick up my boots that were being re-sized and to pick up a plank for making blocks for wet-molding.

When I got back, I went in the garage to put some pouches of cat food in a cupboard, and THERE IT WAS!

 

[Robson Valley]

I "lost" my SAK which has been my EDC for decades. I felt so naked without it.
It has lived in my LH front jeans pocket. There's no place else for it 24/7.
Started plotting and scheming what to buy next. The days crawled by as I continued to look for it.
Day 4: Reaching for my keys to drive to the hardware store to have a look, there it was. Why? No clue.

I want to grow veg seed sprouts to eat this winter.
Bought several lots of seed mixes, maybe 750g.
Bought a 12" x 16" digital-control heater pad to get the jars up to 25C.
Opened the boxes and admired the goods.
Gone. Poof. Evaporated. Not a single clue what I did with it all.

 

[Woody girl]

It's the matrix!!! They open up when your not looking swallow things and spit them out the other side sometime in the future. My matrix swallows everything from my reading glasses phone and scissors to socks chargers and keys. I have a matrix in my bag for sure. One day I might fall in myself and you won't see me untill I reappear a few days later at the bottom of the garden. .

 

[Janne]

On the other hand, the best way to lose stuff basically forever is when somebody ( usually wife) cleans and puts every item in its correct place.

 

[Keith_Beef]

On the other hand, the best way to lose stuff basically forever is when somebody ( usually wife) cleans and puts every item in its correct place.

Oh, this is so true for my household, too... Except for the "correct place" bit.

SWMBO and my daughter sometimes get annoyed when I ask them to find whatever it is that has gone missing, telling me that I should keep track of my things better, and to stop assuming that they are the ones responsible for kit going missing...

A couple of days ago, I came in from the garage to look something up on the computer. I sat on the couch, put the garage keys on the couch next to me, put the computer on my lap and started searching. Then I needed to go and get a book from another room; that took me about fifteen minutes to find (I had to look through several books to find which one had the information I needed).

I came back to the couch, and... no keys! I looked in the key box, checked my trouser pockets, checked my shiret pockets, checked under and behind the couch cushions... Thinking that SWMBO had perhaps needed to go in the garage, I asked if she had seen the keys.

"Oh, yes, they were on the couch, so I put them on the coffee table." And then she had put some magazines on there, and some books, burying the keys.

The next day, I was looking for my glasses... I found SWMBO's glasses, and her spare pair, and her second spare pair. I asked if she had seen my glasses. "Yes, they're on my nose."

 

[oldtimer]

Yesterday. Wife ill, sent me to do weekly shop at Sainsbury's with comprehensive shopping list, money off tokens and her Nectar card. I also had letter to post.

Posted letter, went into Sainsbury's and looked for shopping list. It, tokens and Nectar card nowhere to be found. It then dawned on me that I had posted them along with the letter. So, not lost but inaccessible. Did shopping from memory and got home having forgotten only two items from list!

However, very patient and understanding wife pointed out that Nectar card had about £30 of points on it. So, back to post box to wait for postman. Charming bloke, very kindly looked through bag but without success. He told me that there had probably been an earlier collection and that the card would by now be on its way to Swindon.

So I haven't lost the card, I know where it is but this doesn't help. SWMBO still very patient: reckon I'll suffer later!