Undecided

I received a gift today - a very special book from my past.

It put me in a reasonably good mood for the rest of the day.

There was this program on BBC2 a few years ago called Life Laundry, where this lifestyle guru (a contradiction in terms, if ever there was one) helped people declutter their lives. Thoroughly dull TV, yet an inspiration nonetheless.

It set me thinking about why we keep things. In some circles it's called 'collecting' but generally it's just hoarding. But of course this tunnel vision is open to discussion. If you have a large record and CD collection and regularly play most of the music is that hoarding? If you have a collection of hardbacks by your favourite author(s) and you will read these books again, is that hoarding? What about stamps? Or people who collect all kinds of nonsense like Beeny Babes (I've got that right, haven't I) and trading cards and such like?

We're all capable of obsession - whether it's a full blown 'I wanna be a Klingon' obsession or the fact you'll buy the new Grisham or Hornsby novel when it comes out, we all like to keep things as our own.

Over the years I've collected a number of things and, more importantly, kept hold of a number of inconsequential items that at some point in my past, may well have held some kind of sentimental value, but now are just objects of a one-time desire.

It's different if you have a large or extended family, there's always someone you can leave your shit to when you die, especially if your other half doesn't want them, but what if you're on your own or in a dwindling family? If what you have means so much to you, think about this - despite you being dead, some bloke, probably from the council, is going to come round and bin the lot - all the stuff you've spent years keeping in good condition, all the stuff that your remaining relatives would rather see in a skip than boxed up heading towards some auction house.

The expression ephemeral is often used in conjunction with collecting and ephemeral means 'of the moment' or 'throw away'.

The problem is parting is so difficult.