While kicking about in the dirt the other day, I uncovered a piece of that classic willow-patterned china (Exhibit A). We’ve all done it. But why is there such a prevalence of china chips in the ground? You’d think willow-patterned china was a commodity in the olden days, ceremonially buried for posterity.

Then, a shard of a beer bottle and a bread-tie (Exhibit B) unlocked the mystery of the willow-patterned china. It’s the detritus from picnics! The same patch of grass has probably hosted generations of picnickers, aeons of idle chatter and boundless joie de vivre.

Phone a few friends, tell them to bring a plate, and meet you under a Port Jackson fig tree in the Domain, at the beach or on Shark Island.

And, no need to bury the Tupperware.

(Simone)