Moving Home
I’ve moved five times during my life. Although all of these have gone smoothly, there’s always a degree of trepidation involved. As well as the big questions such as am I doing the right thing, there’s also the practical side of relocating to consider; IE moving your crap from point A to point B. I’m not someone who enjoys upheaval and so for me moving is an exercise in logistics and project management. I won’t bore you with the fine details but I have successfully moved in the last few days and am now happily ensconced in my new home with she who will hence forward be obliquely referred to as Mrs Peril.
The last move I made in 2008 taught me the benefits of downsizing. I took the opportunity to shed a great deal of the clutter and paraphernalia that we fill our lives with. Books, DVDs, CDs as well as all that crap we horde for sentimental reasons were all scrutinised and if judged superfluous, were sent packing. Therefore I was presented with a much easier task this time round. Or so I thought. Perhaps it’s my age or I’ve had some sort of personal epiphany with regards to consumerism but I still felt I was carrying too much baggage, literally, with this move.
We live in a very disposable world nowadays. A great deal of the physical content we previously owned is now available digitally. It certainly makes decluttering a lot easier. So once again I’ve gone through my personal affects with a fine tooth comb. As a result the Local Red Cross charity shop has benefited no end. At present my former collections of Tolkien Audio books have pride of place in main window display. Apart from my clothes, computer equipment and a few treasured tomes pretty much everything else has gone. Apart from the paper work, that is. Four box files sadly came with me; relics of my former self-employment.
I appreciate that not everyone will hold with my personal philosophy of travelling light. The emotional connection you make with physical items and the associations they bring is very important to some. However that’s just not for me. When my Father-in-law died I helped clear his house in preparation for its sale. Although some personal items were kept, the majority of his possessions were disposed of within a fortnight. Everything he’d spent a lifetime acquiring gone in a matter of days. It was a very sobering experience.
With regard to my latest move, hopefully this will be the last one; at least for a while. You never really know what lies ahead. However as there’s no sign of the London property market slowing down, I can’t see there being another change of address in the immediate future. Certainly Walter is very pleased with his new digs and has already got his feet under the table. In fact he actually arrived here before me and has been making himself at home for a while. I guess that’s what I need to do now that the move is done.