Second Life

"Make do and mend: Dad's duster pants

My mother doesn't believe in reincarnation. But there is one thing that she is willing to make an exception for - my father's pants.
As soon as the elastic begins to go, the underwear ends its brief life with Dad and moves to a better place - the cleaning cabinet.
What enters as briefs, comes out as dusters. They go from protecting the family jewels to cleaning the family heirlooms. They destroy dust, erase fingerprints and leave television screens and mirrors sparkling.
Strangely enough, it's only my father's pants that get a second life.
So think twice before tossing your old undies out, and give them a different type of life."

Paul Staunton, Family Life, The Guardian, Family, 5.9.2009, p.7

In my parental home, too, my father's pants found a second life as dusters.