We are all to a greater or lesser degree hoarders. Given a chance, we would never throw anything out.
Lack of available space is what keeps us in check. And fear of what
others might think or say. For most, life is what goes through our
fingers. A little voice in our head whispers: "Keep everything. Throw
nothing away, they might come in useful some day."
You are just back from a week in Senegal, and into a drawer go maps, small changes, photos, postcards and visiting cards of people you know you will never meet again. A Senegalese hat goes up on the wall, a carved elephant takes up it's post beside the telephone forever. All these newcomers are jostling with Russian dolls, Dutch clogs and Eskimo fishing tackles. Restricting our living space to the bare minimum, we slave to keep our bric-a-brac with a roof over it's head. Our penchant for travel is merely an excuse to allow us to cart back more ghastly abominations disguised as souvenirs.
Other drawers and boxes are cluttered with old family photos, opera programmes and yellowing newspaper clippings. Then there are all those folders stuffed with documents, certificate, receipts, medical reports and diplomas no one ever looks at. A dozen old watches, some probably still in good nick, do time in an old shoe box with lifers known as cufflinks and tiepins. And there is that jagged nugget of gold, which has done time as a tooth filling cringes in a squeezed ball of soiled tissue paper.
Although there's no longer a record player, cassette or video recorder, several bookcases are bulging with LP's, cassettes and videos. The victor of the last technological war ordered that all prisoners blinded and their tongues cut off. As to all those books, the poor old bastards are hardly worth pulping. In the depth of a wardrobe, an Underwood typewriter collects dust in the company of quaint old shoes and down-and-out slippers.
If you doubt that we live merely to hoard worthless crap, don't miss the Mare's Museum in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to the weirdest collections of things you could ever imagine, and the ones you would never have imagined.
Current Mood: 
Chipper
Chipper
Awake
