Cargoes

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,

Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,

With a cargo of Tyne coal,

Road-rails, pig-lead,

Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

-John Masefield

The Boat

Even the boat, which sails

Upon the pathless seas,

Where white waves toss their heads,

Finds a trusty guide in the breeze.

Fujiwara no Katsuomo

Disposing of things:

We collect so many things, possessions, objects of desire that we do not need and will probably never use. A perfect example was my childhood – which should end some time soon– when I was always on the lookout for some small, interesting and useless thing that I could carry in my pocket; a talisman of sorts. Do not ask why, it just seemed a rooly cool idea @ the time. Wanker!!

Late in 2008 when I realised that Mexico was going to be a reality I was faced with the awful choice of what to take, what to store, and what could find new homes. Everything I own – which is not much anyway except for the above mentioned thingo in my pocket – needed to be put into one of these three categories in such a manner that would not cause regret at some stage later in my life. There was the obvious, easy solution of storing everything thereby delaying the inevitable decisions, but I bit the bullet and started to cull. Heather on the other hand has taken the “store it” path mainly because there is not enough time left to sort through all her stuff.

The first group to face the axe were my books. This was relatively easy as I had already released numerous into the wild through BookCrossing, an on-line organisation that coordinates the free distribution of pre-loved books.

(Read, Recycle, Release with BookCrossing!

Welcome to BookCrossing, where books have adventures of their own. BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. Through our own unique method of recycling reads, BookCrossers give life to books. BookCrossing books are not stagnant dust collectors, but living entities travelling the world as true BookCrossing emissaries. Our books find new readers and introduce them to the wonders of BookCrossing.) Check it out – it is a great way to share your books.

I kept a small number, gave a few special ones to my children and released the rest at the Coffee Mamma van in Dean Street, Albury, to be found by the eclectic (eccentric, epileptic) crowd who get their daily fix there.

Pictures are different – I am keeping them all although the kids are helping by looking after some of them until we return. Impossible to part with them.

(OOOOPS!!! Heather has just read this and informed me that she has culled some of her things! She called me a wanker!)