The cost of saving $40

Now I know all about mattresses! There are certain regulations about what goes into a rubbish skip. Mattresses with inner springs cost $20 each to dispose of unless the springs are taken out. At first sight it looked relatively easy until I found that every 10 centimetres there was a little metal ring attaching the cloth and sheets of foam rubber to the springs. Each ring had to be individually cut off - without blunting the scissors of the coils of wire. Then, rather like eating a fish - where one eats one side and then flips it over and eats the other side, the mattress becomes less stable as the material comes off. Full of satisfaction at finally finishing the double bed mattress I then found a single one. Confident that I knew how to do it I was very surprised and dismayed to find that it had thick coconut matting and large, hard to get at, staples. Having started on it I did not want to give up and have to pay the $20. As the saying goes 'once bitten, twice shy'. At the back of the cupboard I found another inner spring mattress.

I have until Tuesday, when a new skip arrives, to decide whether to pay $20 or attack it with the scissors. I am mildly interested to see what it is made of.

Tomorrow I will be thinking of other things as I go to Melbourne Three Day Event to take part in the FEI judges clinic. Such a wonderful sport. I am really looking forward to it. At least as I am driving there I can take clothes for the cold, the very cold, the wet and the cold and wet.