Back in summer 2002 I moved house down from Kilburn to where I am now. I remember, it was a sweltering, dazzlingly sunny couple of days, and during the course of shifting my stuff I tried all three routes – north circular, south circular and across the middle – and they were all utter sods. I think there were roadworks at Trafalgar Square which trapped me in the mall for three hours. Never again.
Anyway, at the time, in the spirit of creating a new life – approaching my 30’s, becoming single again, giving notice on my job and starting out on a new career – I took all the stuff from that time, put it in a bag, and put the bag in a box, and put the box in the back of cupboard, never to be opened again.
Well, I opened it this weekend – looking for school photos to stick up on Facebook. All sorts of memorabilia from another life! Lots of Erasure nick-nacks – passes, stickers, cocktail shakers. Tickets to TV show recordings, plays and concerts. Hundreds of those free postcards that Trinity Street used to send out in the mid-90’s – I kind of miss them; after all, it’s always nice to get post even if it’s just from the Kula Shakers letting you know they’re going to release another single.
And lots of photos of me and my ex, which I’m not quite sure what to do with. I could bin them. I could see if she wants them. I’d rather not go there. Besides, they might come in useful one day, for the middle eight pages with photos in my autobiography. So instead I did what anyone else in my position would do – I put them back in the bag, back in the box and back in the cupboard.