In my continuing and frustrating efforts to renew my passport, I finally resorted to trying to do it by mail. I had to get still another photo taken; will this one pass muster? The instructions were to staple it with four staples (placed in a certain required configuration) to the application.

That made me wonder whether I even possess a stapler anymore. The last time I used it might have been twenty years ago. It might have been longer ago. I have no idea, but it seemed a quaint thing, like paper money.

But there it was, in a desk drawer exactly where it should be. A box of staples was there, too, but it turns out the stapler was already loaded – which was a good thing because I’ve probably forgotten how to load one, too.

And it worked just fine. Nice.