In 1990 I was offered the chance of participating in a survey of the Furneaux Islands in Bass Strait. Having accepted this I wandered into a large stationary warehouse to shop for the appropriate stationary. I found this neat red plastic alphabetical document file which I used to store copies of relevant articles and various notes. Within five years the plastic began to harden around the edges and fracture. Today I am left with a folder that is still flexible in the middle but every edge is hard and brittle and leaves a pile of red chips of plastic everywhere. The folder has been consigned to the dustbin of history, the chips are still slowly being located and thrown out (they get everywhere). This is a warning to those, like myself, seduced by the plastic folder - stick to paper! Iain Stuart