I often fantasise about having no possessions. Well, maybe not none, but the bare minimum: the amount you could easily shove into a medium-size van. The stuff you really need to get by. Plus a few nice lamps, the especially brilliant books and records. But then when you start to get into it you begin to hit a bit of a wall in your plans: there are an awful lot of especially brilliant books and records and it would appear that for around thirty years I have been on a mission to be the owner of most of them. Also, some of those lamps aren’t just
Fabulous! This was exactly what I needed after a week of yucky sinusitis. Well, what I really needed was a course of antibiotics, which I've now got, but this was exceptionally better and much more enjoyable to consume. It's making me reflect on all the slogan t-shirts I've recently accumulated after a huge binge purchasing episode, cringe! Thank you, Tom!
I really enjoyed this Tom, it’s all very relatable and only a massive storage unit could possibly make boat or van living viable. I had the experience recently of hunting my collection for some vinyl that I had included with some items sold to a local record shop. It hurt and won’t happen again. The lamp is superb and an excellent find.
We love the things we love, and often times that’s all that matters - so long as the things we love aren’t hurting others. I look at the curated spots in my life and feel a soft blanket of serotonin when their colors and meaning and placement hit just right. We have been too busy since moving the last time, a year ago, to sort and purge the storage area that’s mostly the remnants of the kids’ childhoods, and I am savoring the thought of the days I’ll have editing, touching, remembering, and yes also tossing and donating, as I go through that stuff and give a more honorable and organized situation. There’s also a few vases and some random items that I know are down there that I’d like to have back in my eyeline. Also, thanks for the reminder that I need to find time to get back to updating the photo albums, because I haven’t done that since 2012, due to the exact circumstances around the cloud that you mention.
Love love love this. For what it's worth, as a nomad with a partner who together travel with half a car's worth of stuff, I don't think the urge to edit ever goes away.
I love this. As a person who shipped a few hundred books over the Atlantic, and has since added to that number -- I’m totally with you on the books. And for me it’s also ornaments and pictures. I’ve also moved a lot. The longest I spent in one house was 9 years. I’ve been in this one for five years, and the one before that for five years too.
My brothers and I have just finished clearing my mothers house after she passed away. We all cried at some point, “what did she keep this for?” And some days I would return home, look at my own possessions and think; what’s the point? If I die, it all goes to charity.no one will know - or probably care - why I had these. It’s a life disposed of so easily in boxes. I was inspired to some light pruning of my own. But I look at my possessions now and each one is there because I love it - because of a memory of where or how it was purchased, of the person who gave it to me, or of what was going on in my life at the time. And so what if other people think I’m mad to have it. After I’m gone, it doesn’t matter, but now, they bring me joy. I and love having them for that. That said, I will hate every piece when I next come to move house.
I can so very much relate to this dilemma of thought. I owned a house, a million years ago (well, about 12!) until a change of life took me back to renting and moving around. After being forcibly evicted a couple of months ago, I finally put my (no) money where my mouth is and bought a caravan to live in. I have sold most of my furniture and parted company with a lot of my possessions, but I still have 20 ‘really useful’ boxes crammed with books, photographs and ephemera which make me feel like, well … me. I love the simplicity of caravan life. No regrets at all. But downsizing was brutal. And I miss baths.
Egads - how many times have I thought the same things. At this point of my life (63 years old) I live in what constitutes an artist studio with a bed and bathroom and my three cats (who are also not for sale, not at any price EVER). My cats are also of the finest quality and I tell them everyday they are the best cats in the universe. I have an uneasy relationship with stuff as well - but I keep buying books and of course, there's art supplies .... Enjoyed this very much, Tom!
I remember spotting a couple who owned a piece of land along the Canal du Midi. They parked a large shed with a veranda on the small plot and used this for storage while they grew vegetables and had some fruit trees too and they lived in a canal boat - I thought it was a genius idea.
A Compendium Of Thoughts About Possessions
Fabulous! This was exactly what I needed after a week of yucky sinusitis. Well, what I really needed was a course of antibiotics, which I've now got, but this was exceptionally better and much more enjoyable to consume. It's making me reflect on all the slogan t-shirts I've recently accumulated after a huge binge purchasing episode, cringe! Thank you, Tom!
I really enjoyed this Tom, it’s all very relatable and only a massive storage unit could possibly make boat or van living viable. I had the experience recently of hunting my collection for some vinyl that I had included with some items sold to a local record shop. It hurt and won’t happen again. The lamp is superb and an excellent find.
A lovely read! It helped that I can identify with almost all of your views, feelings, but from two decades earlier! Yeah! I know. Still Groovy baby! 😉
We love the things we love, and often times that’s all that matters - so long as the things we love aren’t hurting others. I look at the curated spots in my life and feel a soft blanket of serotonin when their colors and meaning and placement hit just right. We have been too busy since moving the last time, a year ago, to sort and purge the storage area that’s mostly the remnants of the kids’ childhoods, and I am savoring the thought of the days I’ll have editing, touching, remembering, and yes also tossing and donating, as I go through that stuff and give a more honorable and organized situation. There’s also a few vases and some random items that I know are down there that I’d like to have back in my eyeline. Also, thanks for the reminder that I need to find time to get back to updating the photo albums, because I haven’t done that since 2012, due to the exact circumstances around the cloud that you mention.
Loved this Tom. Strikes many chords.
Love love love this. For what it's worth, as a nomad with a partner who together travel with half a car's worth of stuff, I don't think the urge to edit ever goes away.
Very enjoyable read, thank you
Lovely. I just cannot get rid of my books and records and paintings. I just need a larger place to live in!
Loved this and I identify completely.
I love this. As a person who shipped a few hundred books over the Atlantic, and has since added to that number -- I’m totally with you on the books. And for me it’s also ornaments and pictures. I’ve also moved a lot. The longest I spent in one house was 9 years. I’ve been in this one for five years, and the one before that for five years too.
My brothers and I have just finished clearing my mothers house after she passed away. We all cried at some point, “what did she keep this for?” And some days I would return home, look at my own possessions and think; what’s the point? If I die, it all goes to charity.no one will know - or probably care - why I had these. It’s a life disposed of so easily in boxes. I was inspired to some light pruning of my own. But I look at my possessions now and each one is there because I love it - because of a memory of where or how it was purchased, of the person who gave it to me, or of what was going on in my life at the time. And so what if other people think I’m mad to have it. After I’m gone, it doesn’t matter, but now, they bring me joy. I and love having them for that. That said, I will hate every piece when I next come to move house.
I can so very much relate to this dilemma of thought. I owned a house, a million years ago (well, about 12!) until a change of life took me back to renting and moving around. After being forcibly evicted a couple of months ago, I finally put my (no) money where my mouth is and bought a caravan to live in. I have sold most of my furniture and parted company with a lot of my possessions, but I still have 20 ‘really useful’ boxes crammed with books, photographs and ephemera which make me feel like, well … me. I love the simplicity of caravan life. No regrets at all. But downsizing was brutal. And I miss baths.
"The person they’re there to impress is me." I love this.
Egads - how many times have I thought the same things. At this point of my life (63 years old) I live in what constitutes an artist studio with a bed and bathroom and my three cats (who are also not for sale, not at any price EVER). My cats are also of the finest quality and I tell them everyday they are the best cats in the universe. I have an uneasy relationship with stuff as well - but I keep buying books and of course, there's art supplies .... Enjoyed this very much, Tom!
I remember spotting a couple who owned a piece of land along the Canal du Midi. They parked a large shed with a veranda on the small plot and used this for storage while they grew vegetables and had some fruit trees too and they lived in a canal boat - I thought it was a genius idea.
Re. The picture of the lamp. Nice lamp.
But... the books... they are not alphabetised... are you a psychopath?
Nice to know that the Ven diagram of your bookshelf and mine is 50% overlapping.
Bet you haven’t read the Frazier...
Books do furnish a room don’t they?