Need a Change Jar

Long ago, when father was first in hospital, I took his stockpile of change, counted it and put the equivalent of notes into his wallet to pay for stuff like papers and chocolates or wine for the nurses.  This left me with a pile of small coins that I kept meaning to get cashed in at the local newsagent.  I had been counting them last week as part of the clear up but they have been neglected this week.

Bear has been counting them for the last hour.  I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is but the alternative is bear flopping around and complaining about boredom so I will take it.  As it is, bear has been happily occupied and I won't be relying on his counting if I take it to the shop.

I'm considering the possibility of getting a table at the table top sale at the Church (if there is one left).  There is a lot of bric a brac that I've put to one side to take to the charity shop.  Anything left at the end could be donated for the Church's next jumble sale.  I mentioned this to bear who utterly rejected any thought of helping.  He informed me loftily that I would not have enough change.  I handed him the large and heavy tub of change and bear pounced.  He is just checking how much change there really is.

I remember uncle had one of those outsize whiskey bottles which he threw his change in at the end of the night.  He let it mount up and up and cashed it in when there was over a hundred pounds - this was forty years ago!  It was a great tool for keeping us quiet.  He would ask us to count it, and we would sit and get absorbed in the small coins and it would keep us quiet for hours.  Looking back, that may be why he never fully cashed it in.  It was far too useful on a wet Sunday afternoon.

I'm not hung up on the change jar concept, but at this moment, dealing with a bored bear who is no longer bored, it is looking like an awesome idea.  Having bear track the amounts and do the counting would be just the thing for him.  I shall dig out an old jar and we can take it from there.