Well, there it is. This is my life. I am either coming or going. Now I am going away again and my preparations for my journey have begun. I am determined to travel light this time, but as I look around at the things piled around, I still cannot avoid a fair amount of baggage. Some of this will be offloaded at my destination, so the trick is to come back with less. But knowing myself, I will end up filling my suitcases with bread flour and instant yeast and little gadgets and gewgaws and scented soaps and chemical-free shampoos, and even the odd cooker.
However, I have given up my love of most objects now, and anything I buy is mostly in moments of madness – when I am either feeling blue or bored – when I am driven to acquire something I do not want very much. The good thing is that I set myself limits so that I can indulge without being profligate. The bad thing is that whatever I buy is generally too big to fit in my suitcase. So I end up desperately trying to fit things wherever I can while being at the receiving end of a sound scolding from R and A who are far too pragmatic for me. At least A is, I remember R trying to somehow pack his racquet which he had acquired without realizing it was just an inch too long to go into his box. But pack it, he did , and fortunately it arrived safe and sound.
Fortunately and to the satisfaction of R and A I have now run out of things to buy, whether at home or abroad. Even Amazon, eclectic as it is, has nothing to offer me now. The balance I have just added to it is an act of optimism.