Saturday, March 26, 2005
Self-indulgent introspection: I’d skip this if I were you.
I have a wooden cabinet in my bedroom. It was carved by my great-grandfather and came to me unrequested, a bargained token in the frantic last minute horse-trading as my parents’ divorce was settled. I’ve had to drag it behind me round the country ever since. It’s become a repository for anything I can’t be bothered finding a home for – papers, bills, photos, newspapers, miscellaneous. I’ve been meaning to take it on for a while, see what’s there, throw out what I don’t need. I probably should have chosen a different time than now, when I haven’t spoken to anyone face-to-face for a couple of days: I probably should have chosen a jauntier soundtrack.
Memories came screaming up: some painful; the others, the happy ones, made poignant by my melancholy. Old birthday cards. Can you throw them away? What if that person isn't here anymore? The terrible guilt when stocking filler presents are recognised; I never used them. I realise that this post is a bit much. Apologies. Here are some of the funnier finds:
- Badges: A promotional one for Wimpy Restaurants – Wimpy Man in the Caribbean; Red Dwarf; Landrover.
- French Vocab book from Year 12. Apparently I needed to know the words for “ant” (fourmi [f]) and “pillow” (oreiller [m]).
- Over fifty weekly timesheets and payslips from Select Recruitment Agency.
- An empty scrapbook. (What an obvious metaphor!)
- The first page of a university essay: “What are the implications of the Coase Theorem for the management of environmental externalities.” Fuck knows.
- Client's setlist and lyric sheets.
- Lists of songs for unmade compilations.
- Some terrible passport photos, taken on my way to the Civil Service Fast Stream recruitment process. No wonder they didn’t employ me.
Oh, Doctor Who is on tonight. I may watch it.
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I have a wooden cabinet in my bedroom. It was carved by my great-grandfather and came to me unrequested, a bargained token in the frantic last minute horse-trading as my parents’ divorce was settled. I’ve had to drag it behind me round the country ever since. It’s become a repository for anything I can’t be bothered finding a home for – papers, bills, photos, newspapers, miscellaneous. I’ve been meaning to take it on for a while, see what’s there, throw out what I don’t need. I probably should have chosen a different time than now, when I haven’t spoken to anyone face-to-face for a couple of days: I probably should have chosen a jauntier soundtrack.
Memories came screaming up: some painful; the others, the happy ones, made poignant by my melancholy. Old birthday cards. Can you throw them away? What if that person isn't here anymore? The terrible guilt when stocking filler presents are recognised; I never used them. I realise that this post is a bit much. Apologies. Here are some of the funnier finds:
- Badges: A promotional one for Wimpy Restaurants – Wimpy Man in the Caribbean; Red Dwarf; Landrover.
- French Vocab book from Year 12. Apparently I needed to know the words for “ant” (fourmi [f]) and “pillow” (oreiller [m]).
- Over fifty weekly timesheets and payslips from Select Recruitment Agency.
- An empty scrapbook. (What an obvious metaphor!)
- The first page of a university essay: “What are the implications of the Coase Theorem for the management of environmental externalities.” Fuck knows.
- Client's setlist and lyric sheets.
- Lists of songs for unmade compilations.
- Some terrible passport photos, taken on my way to the Civil Service Fast Stream recruitment process. No wonder they didn’t employ me.
Oh, Doctor Who is on tonight. I may watch it.
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