uppercase wrote:I couldn't agree with you more!NJS wrote:U-C: If you are going to live abroad, I strongly recommend that you consider the things to take and the things to off-load. We have still got a mountain of stuff stored in England and really wish that we had got rid of most of it. If you make the leap, you will soon realize that most possessions are just an encumbrance on - essentially freedom of movement: true impedimenta! Moving it all around (and paying for it), insuring it, housing it, securing it, worrying about it. Better by far to get rid of it!
Moreover, lingering memories of lugging and hauling and humping ruddy great, mammoth-like suitcases (stuffed to breaking point with useless rubbish) from the nervy scrummage surrounding airport carousels and pushing them around on groaning trolleys, with defective wheels, mean that I would never, ever, ever (I don't care what she says), ever again travel on an airplane with more than: a down pillow, a good book, a notepad and pencils, a box of sweets, a snuff box, a few large handkerchiefs, a hipflask, eau de cologne (each when permissible), a toothbrush, a razor, a comb and the smallest possible cabin bag to put it all in. There is some great merit, on short trips, in cutting it all down to: toothbrush, razor and comb. Then you just watch the lemmings running off down the rat-run towards the carousel. You smile a little smile - and get the hell outa there.
NJS
There's a particular joy in traveling light. And living lightly as well. I've been through my schlepping days and they are over for good.
Like you, I also take no more than one small carry on bag on trips. What doesn't fit, doesn't go.
When moving overseas, junk your possessions I say. Start over fresh. Yes, live large but lose the encumbrances. Freedom is around the corner.
Now the conundrum becomes serious when it comes to something material which we love. Like clothing.
I suppose that you, NJS, never have any need for your London suits now. What to do with these?
I ask myself that question when confronted by cartons of clothing I have not opened in years....
I think that the answer lies in just being sure that you know what you actually need and what you want and where to get it all, should the occasion arise - and whether you currently possess it or not: knowing how the things should be. Knowledge is power. Possibly, it is the only real power. So you get to the point where you need to possess nothing material beyond your immediate requirements. Let the yearnings go.
It is true that you want actually to 'possess' material things up to the age of about 45 years. After that, all you need to possess is the knowledge, and the means to possess and use things, as the occasion demands. I have no need of city suits; slip-stitched ties and bespoke, black oxfords everyday (in fact, any day). The need has gone.
I let it go, in return for living in a place as close to paradise as this earth allows. Now, I just I slip on a pair of shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, a pair of sandals and I'm OK for the day. But if, say, my daughter got married and wanted me to play a part in it all, I am sure that I could make her reasonably proud of me; giving her away; letting her go to find her own version of happiness for her age: maybe, I'd bloody well abandon my shorts for a day and commission a real frock coat; pull out of storage a damned fine silk hat (1903) and put a gardenia in my buttonhole.
But I'd make bloody sure that she were covered in orange blossom and bedecked with emeralds, to match her eyes, and diamonds to set them off. This is because: now, I have become merely a background to the propagation of our shared genes! All I really want for my immediate needs are: home-grown guinea-fowl and duck and vegetables and fruit; the scent of lemon blossom and tobacco plant blasted up to me by the evening dew; a glass of palatable wine; a nice smoke; a read of a friend - old or new, and to have the time to stare at the stars and wonder a little about it all.
I don't fool myself that I shall find any new (or any), answers but I think that I have earned my time to wonder, without worrying over my everyday state of dress and appearance.
Maybe, I have given the world 'the finger'. Let the accusation stand. My main advice would be to: let no one 'befriend' you, unless you are sure of their motives and their end.
Does that make sense?
- But, from the Sleepy Hollow - I still think that: breast pocket handkerchiefs in city and formal coats and brown shoes with blue suits are all an appalling abortion of good taste - but not so great an abortion as contrived measly 'pocket squares'! They really point the way to hell in a hand-barrow/basket! You can't even blow your nose in them. What's a snuufer to do? Eh? Eh?
NJS