Memory Lane

I have been spending quite a bit of time recently clearing out my mum's attic (that is, while not catching up on the 'things to do when I get home' list, I'm currently in the middle watching all 7 seasons of Buffy and the 3 1/2 of Angel that I have on dvd/video) and it's quite distracting. I think that somewhere along the way of me growing up I've picked up the rather useless habit of knowing I've got to chuck things out but when it comes to it I pick it up, look at it, spend 15 minutes reminising and then put it on one side in an 'unsure as to whether I should chuck it out pile'. This is all well and good but when you've gone through nearly 3 decades of saved books, old schoolwork, things that you bought when you were 9 and had no taste (and ditto for 10, 11, 12, 13...) what tends to happen is you've not actually got around to throwing anything out, you've just moved it all around a little. This technique has served me well for many years (as the clutter in what was my room kind of demonstrated) but no longer. This time the builders are moving in and we have to be ruthless. Out with the old school work, out with the old things that I thought were cool 12 years ago but weren't and definately aren't now, out with everything of my sisters that I'd kept in my room when I inherited it from her after her first year in Uni. Things that I couldn't throw out at the time because they were hers and, despite the fact that she'd said I could have the room, I didn't want it to make mine, I wanted it because I missed her. And because, generally, she's always had better taste than me. The rooms are now empty-ish. Just a couple of beds left, some chests of draws and a couple of things that I still can't bring myself to throw out. In some ways this is a good thing because when the room is finished it will be nice and well decorated and lovely. On the other hand I can't help feeling that I've just thrown out a good part of my life. Still, that's probably a good thing. Perhaps I ought to try and clear my mind of some of the same clutter. Do you think that the recycling place takes memories? p.s Today's random thought was brought to you by www.IhadsomethingreallyprofoundandinterestingtosaybutwhenI satdownithadalldisappeared.com.uk.