Saying farewell to things

The entire weekend was a washout. So I continue with the Great Bedroom Clearout. Yesterday the model aircraft fleet was consigned to the attic; today bookshelves are tidied, frayed ties and shirts passed on to Pan Heniek spod budki z piwem, papers sorted, rubbish thrown out.

I find it difficult to part with old things, especially those which have pleasant associations. Like old photos, old things can bring back fond memories. But so much of it is essentially clutter; one needs to live a tidy life amidst a minimum of junk. And here's a life-in-balance conundrum - how to sort out Artefacts of Meaning from the clutter - and then how to store them in a curatorly way, so that their presence will add and not detract from the quality of one's later life. How do you deal with this conundrum, dear readers? (comments please!)

Pleasant associations and the recognition that Things are often Created by Man with Thought and Care. An old silk tie, Italian; so much craftsmanship there; and yet getting it repaired at Pani krawcowa's is not economically viable. Similarly a tatty old shirt, a worn-out pair of shoes.

We live in an age of disposability; things are either made by machine or by poorly-paid, distant workers of whose lives we know little. One way or another, corporations are selling us these things, some of which we need, most of which we don't. But from this act stems economic growth; advertising and sales people forever pushing, pushing, pushing - and so much of the resultant activity is unwanted things taking up space in our lives.

But among them there are things that are very much wanted and needed and loved.

I've recently learned I need to take care of things better, so that they last longer. Less dirt on clothes, fewer wash cycles, less fraying long-term. Books too. Books... one's accumulation of books over a lifetime is most important. Again, they must be cherished.

One category that made it straight to the bin bag is CD-ROM software. Some time in the mid-1990s, someone at Microsoft decided that the future was not online but multimedia CDs. How many cubic kilometres of plastic disc were filled with content that now graces the net free of charge. I've been chucking out bucketfuls of the stuff - mainly children's computer games, multimedia presentations of Polish cities' investment opportunities, mobile phone utilities, etc.

I have a penchant for things that do have that slightly vintage, lived-in, look; cameras that look like they've seen action rather than straight-out-of-the-box and mint, shoes that are clean, well-polished yet well-worn, cherished books that show signs that they've been read many times rather than being placed on the bookshelf unopened. But at some stage that 'used' look becomes unacceptable - the trick is having to determine when that tipping point has been reached!

And so - at the end of the weekend - a tidy bedroom, masses of rubbish thrown out, a cleaner, clutter-free life. Tomorrow also threatens to be rainy - the fourth day of July in row - and Tuesday too.

Still, I managed to catch this marvellous sunset from my bedroom window this evening - again, click on the photo to enlarge, stare at the setting sun and meditate upon it...