A good piece of string

The other day I was preparing to set up the kids swimming pool. It is one of those Insta-Set pools that you see so many off. You know, the blue ones with an inflatable ring around the top. They are filtered and must be maintained like any other pool because the volume of water is significant.
The most important step is to ensure the ground is level where the pool will be sitting. If the water is not equal throughout the pool it will collapse on the low side. I know, that happened last year ! I learned my lesson and took my time this year. To check the ground for level I used the old tried and true method of a string and a line level. No fancy tripod mounted apparatus shooting out laser beams. The method worked well one hundred years ago and still works today. Taking my time ,I carefully removed ground as needed to make a nice level surface. That being accomplished, I began to wind up the string I had been using. While doing this I was reminded of the ball of string my Great Grandfather always kept.
Thinking back upon it my Grandmother had a spool of that white cotton string also. My Great Grandfather,as I said,had a ball of string. Every time he got a piece of string from some package or another he would add it to the ball. Conversely, whenever he needed a piece he had some readily available. I remembered asking him about this when I was young. He just simply said," you never know when you are going to need a piece of string." He went on to tell me to not waste anything. He probably used the old cliche,waste not,want not. Gramp was big on cliches.
Now,my Grandmother did other peoples laundry for a living. When the clothes were washed,ironed and folded properly she would wrap them in brown paper. You just know she tied those bundles shut with that white cotton string. She had to buy her string as she used far more than she could collect.
So, I was thinking about all this when it occurred to me that the reason they did this was they had no tape. Oh,by the time I was around tape was available alright, scotch tape was patented in 1930 but seemed like an unnecessary expense to my Grandparents. Packages and bundles were easily tied shut. Having used string and rope a lot they all knew a variety of knots. Yup,they could tie a package up and the string would stay tight,no problem. Most everyone saved that string when removing it too. Like an early form of recycling. I knew one lady that saved tin foil. She carefully spread it out flat. Tin foil was expensive, she would say. Well,it was,when it was first produced.
Yeah,there is nothing like a good piece of string. I usually keep a ball of it handy. Might need it to tie up some plants and level something. You just never know. Remember playing that game with string ? What was it called ? The one were you had the string in your fingers and made Jacobs ladder and other patterns. Two people were needed for some patterns and others you did not. A good piece of string and two cans makes a handy telephone for club houses and such. Need string to make a bow too. Get a string long enough and you can fly a kite. Like  Gramp said ,you just never know when you are going to need a good piece of string.