...and that which you can?

18 posts / 0 new

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Sun, 2001-08-26 20:17

Sorry for pinching half the title from the previous thread..but I did a car boot sale today.....it was rather sobering collecting stuff together to sell.
As some forumee pals are aware, I'm leaving the country shortly, and I am in the middle of clearing out and getting rid of years and years of accumulated bits and pieces. Some things I am finding hard to let go....the things I will definitely refuse to leave behind are photo albums, childrens first works of art, and a massive CD collection.
To transport everything to Cz Rep is unthinkable, and would cost a fortune.
In some ways, having to be forced to clear out in a major way is rather marvellous, as I have the opportunity to start again, with a clean house in another country. (And this time, I swear I will not collect so much stuff - why do I have quite so many magazines, egg cups and teapots anyway???)
As John (I think) said on another thread, things end up owning YOU, rather than the other way round.

I was wondering what things people here could not leave behind, and things that they could quite eaily abandon, should they be forced to move miles away?

(and why do people buy such utter bits of tat at boot sales????Some some I debated chucking rather than flogging sold immediately!!)

Sun, 2001-08-26 20:37

part time dad

you don't have to move miles away to take nothing and no-one with you

Sun, 2001-08-26 21:32

Andrea

Liana, I also moved house a year ago, although by no means as far away as you. I decided to be absolutely ruthless (and I MEAN ruthless), especially as I had to move most of the stuff myself. I ended up chucking or giving away about half of what I had (which wasn't a lot, by some people's standards, anyway), with no qualms whatsover. Also, I remember (many,many years ago), falling madly in love with a...well...bum, no other way to descibe him, really, and leaving everything that I'd been brought up to believe mattered (but never accepted), behind. Literally everything, except the clothes on my back, a few books and a few bob (as it was in those days). To be absolutely honest, the one and only thing I could no way leave behind would be my kid...the rest doesn't strike me as terribly important. Apart from Robert Graves, perhaps. Or Oscar Wilde. Or...

Sun, 2001-08-26 21:45

Andrea

Gawd, Liana, I wasn't for one moment suggesting you were leaving the sprogs behind!! Hmmm, The Teletubbies in Prague, eh? A definite tale, I feel, yes. Wish you all the good fortune in the world, anyway.

Sun, 2001-08-26 21:55

Mark Yelland-Brown

Andrea you like Robert Graves!!! I'm mad about the boy!, or dead old writer! "Goodbye to all that"changed me life! and his poetry? well don't get me started... I couldn't leave behind my sense of humour especially when it comes to laughing at myself, being so opinionated it's a lifesaver. Oh and my hush puppy slippers. Wife and kids without saying, nuff-said!

Sun, 2001-08-26 22:32

jennifer

'Memories are the only things that can't be thrown away. And they are the most precious things - they are what you have left when nothing else remains.' Jennifer

Sun, 2001-08-26 22:39

mississippi

I agree Jennifer, but they can also be the things that torture you and keep you awake at night, make you cry uncontrollably and paralyse you!

Mon, 2001-08-27 12:02

iFB

i THINK i would not leave behind photographs ... but honestly i could live without them ... not sure about anything else (kids aside) ... tho i do LOVE my van ... it is a wonderful fantasy to walk out and start again with nothing ... and this from someone who has a loft stuffed full of everything she ever owned ... the only things i really NEED are people ... and they aren't THINGS really ...

Mon, 2001-08-27 12:09

iFB

... tho i would hate to lose my vast collection of notebooks stretching back years and years and years ...

Mon, 2001-08-27 19:16

#10

Andrea

Aldous Huxley lost his whole manuscript for Brave New World (I think it was) in a house fire. Can you imagine how awful that must have been? Thank whatever that he had a good memory. T.H. Lawrence left his 'script for Seven Pillars in a railway station, from whence, needless to say, it was never recovered. And we think we've got problems?

Tue, 2001-08-28 10:51

#11

Andrea

Sorry, meant TEL and his Pillars, of course. Silly me. That's what insomnia and frequent altercations with pre-pubescent sprogs does to the brain... Profuse apologies for my (almost) unforgivable error.

Tue, 2001-08-28 14:19

#12

nobo

i could leave everything except my flag, and the $50 million i earned last year

Tue, 2001-08-28 19:25

#13

Dave Randall

I could cheerfully leave my creditors behind and start the process over again:-)) I would want to take with me a gaurantee of continued contact with those friends I hold dear and love. Probably take nothing else at all.

Tue, 2001-08-28 20:35

#14

Andrea

Not even yer boxers?

Tue, 2001-08-28 20:49

#15

Dave Randall

Not even those Andrea, I'll go commando :-))

Tue, 2001-08-28 21:40

#16

Andrea

Gosh! I am truly shocked!

Tue, 2001-08-28 22:10

#17

Adam Hills

GO, YOU BIG RED FIRE ENGINE!

Tue, 2001-08-28 22:20

#18

Daves Best Friend

HA!!

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