Moving abroad, even temporarily, focuses the mind. For raising stress levels, isn’t it in the top three – along with bereavement and divorce?
Decisions have to be made about kitchen equipment, books, CDs, old correspondence – and things you’ve thought you’d need one day ‘just in case’ are, in fact, useless, horrendously designed or non-functioning.
This includes a metal security box with no key which contains 30-year old patchouli oil, a tooth that got punched out in a teenage fight and a cigarette (Silk Cut if you must know) with a message from an old…er…flame scrawled along it.
Then there are clothes that will never fit again in a million years – and blurred photographs of old, forgotten holidays. Our attic – which we’ll use to store some stuff – even has items from previous owners, like a handsome Hoover from the 1970s (eBay?).
Well, at least the local charity shop now has a copy of ‘Witchcraft Today’ and a few decent shirts.
Cassette tapes from 1996 containing audio logs of train trips through Russia and China are fascinating to listen to. These will never be consigned to the bin (in fact, they need to be digitised).
And there are other things that we definitely can’t chuck out. It was hard to put our childhood toys in the attic – it’s like leaving our families behind, only worse.
So Bobo, Ted, Poppin, Blue Bunny, Humpty et al – we’ll see you again soon. You wouldn’t like the heat anyway x.
con jamón spain 
Hi, thanks for the like and best of luck with the move! Maybe you should have kept ‘Witchcraft Today’ – could have been a good vanishing spell in there! Linda.
Posted by Expat Eye | May 29, 2013, 7:02 pmHi Linda, it’s probably still on the shelf at the charity shop. It’s actually an interesting book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft_Today
Posted by con jamón | May 29, 2013, 7:19 pmThat does sound interesting!
Posted by Expat Eye | May 29, 2013, 7:25 pmEnough of this faffing… one big bonfire, and then hurl yourselves onto the boat 🙂
Posted by ladyofthecakes | May 29, 2013, 4:51 pmWe’re hoping the house doesn’t burn down while we’re away!
Posted by con jamón | May 29, 2013, 5:01 pmIt won’t. All it’ll do is exponentially gain in value! …and not just because you’ve left 😉
Posted by ladyofthecakes | May 29, 2013, 7:13 pmAAwwww …. the bed in our spare room is covered in teddies 😉
Posted by Marianne | May 29, 2013, 4:39 pmSo they COULD come away after all and have a ‘hotel’ to stay in then…?
Posted by con jamón | May 29, 2013, 5:02 pmErm ….. not quite, but they don’t mind the heat!! 😉
Posted by Marianne | May 29, 2013, 5:19 pm