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Neither Here nor There
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2230
The last few days have been spent in moving limbo, neither here nor there.
Coffee - Here. Coffeepot - There. Computer - Here. Cables - there. And there's a whole list of stuff that could be here or there or who knows where, but is mainly lost in limbo, buried under countless boxes of other stuff, and so I'll be searching the next month for things that I packed and misplaced, this is how it will be.
So much rubbish.
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I sold the antique haunted table, finally, the buyer an older South American woman who had lost her husband in the Chilean coup of '73, he became one of the "disappeared", she fled to Canada afterwords with her children, lived here ever since, she loved Antiques and waxed so poetical about the lost values of craftsmanship that I almost didn't want to sell it.
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3 non-working accordions. 2 non functional trumpets. 100 litres of wine corks. 2 broken antique typewriters. 100 antique candlesticks. I'm a hoarder. There are issues, I know, I'm working on overcoming them. 4 moves in 2 years has done a lot to help me.
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And for all the downsizing - and there's been a lot - there's still an awful lot of rubbish. An Awful lot. Miles of it, and I have to sort through 100 boxes, items I haven't seen in years yet somehow imagined I'll need....1 by 1, find the gems, save them, sever the attachments, sell it or give it away, open another box, do it again. There's easily a month's full time work in this. But I've begun...
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Today, finish up the old house, return drawers (out of boxes, just packed the entire kitchen drawers) order skip for rubbish in backyard, take internet signal booster because I might need it, add it to the box of 200 stereo, vcr, coaxial cables that I've saved, I might need it. And there's a garage sale, local, 9:00, and I know better but I'm going to go anyways...
SOLD! 1 Antique Humpbacked Trunk
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1976
Packed 2 loads to the new place, had 1 visit re: The Haunted Table - She brought her son, probably she was wary after reading about the Antique Humpbacked Trunk I had for sale (fits 1 body), hummed and hawed, not certain, the trunk sold later in the day, added to it a Medalta 3 Gallon Crock and the boys Brass bed, because at $25.00 if it hadn't sold it wasn't going to and better that it find a good home on it's own than have me move it.
Still there is loads to do.
Transcribed 8 pages of notes from the vacation, 6 to go ... (did I take a vacation? Why am I not relaxed..?), Ate (and at 7-11 because there is no food in the fridge, no inclination to buy any, tomorrow I'll be a little smarter and go for Indian Buffet...), have begun to work on diminishing the emails in my inbox, many can be simply deleted but painfully they have to be read first.
And it's painful. I'm on vacation. Still, slowly I'm getting there...
For Sale: 1 Antique Mineral Water Bottle
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: For Sale
- Hits: 2429
Price: $10.00Provenance: I acquired this fine empty bottle whilst kayaking the northwest passage. I was searching for Polar Bears to wrestle, this being a hobby of mine (and far more manly than just slaying them), when after 1 particularly long session with a Giant Polar bear and her 3 cubs I retired to my kayak for a drink.
Now before you get all liberal and indignant let me remind you that it's volunteer rangers like me that keep the North safe from the gathering hordes of Polar Bears that lurk pretty much everywhere north of Edmonton. Safe so tourists like you can go on your little luxury cruises and junkets.
Now I was thirsty and so I went back to my Kayak for a drink
And as luck would have it my (formerly) trusty Inuit guide "Nanook" had already drunk all my water.
"Water, Water everywhere, yet not a drop to drink..."
You should never drink seawater, in case you didn't know.
Anyways, looking around forlornly for a drink or a vending machine (while Mama bear and her cubs are getting away across the pack ice), when what should I spot but this bottle poking out of a snowdrift.
There's crap like this everywhere up there, but I went to check it out just in case.
No water. But there was a note in the bottle, kind of all faded and brittle and all curled up.
It read something like this (if I can remember).
"We, the men of the Erebus and Terror on this day .... in the year of our lord 1847 have .... eaten the cabinboy .... being pursued by giant lizards .... entering into the hollow earth ..... look for signs near...."
There was more, lots more with maps and directions and excerpts from journals and strange drawings and things, but I thought the bottle was coolest and so took it and left the rest. It wasn't littering, because I had already found it there.
Anyways, if you like it you can have it for a mere $10.00. The bottle, that is, the rest of it is still up there. If you're curious I'll draw you a map, but that will cost you another $5.00.
7:00 AM and it's Grey Outside
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2052
7:00 AM this morning, 5 1/2 hours sleep and I'm strangely refreshed. The tightness in the chest is slowly vanishing, I remind myself with every cigarette that I have to quit. And I remind myself that I have to eat - when did I eat last? Almost 40 hours ago at the airport; there's much to do and it's one step after another...
There is the diminishing of possessions - I have done this, long long ago, strangely satisfying, as if a weight were being lifted from my shoulders. I've listed ads for an antique humpbacked trunk, the giant herb chest (good only for ornament and socks, 300 lbs of solid teak, if unsold this will be it's final move, it must sell as well...), Indian Ships lantern, now to await the interested enquiries ....
The stereo, listed and I received a response identifying the speakers as being cheap knock offs and so I unlisted, took to the Goodwill where upon browsing I found another pair of antique candlesticks, large, about 200 years old, $6.00 the pair and in immaculate condition and so I buy them, there is as well an old gramaphone, 1911, not working, and old habits die hard and so I buy this as well, alternately congratulating and cursing myself all the way home , reassuring myself that it was a "good deal" and yet remembering that I'm downsizing and that as I take it with me, it's only for a while....
8:04, Still rush hour, time to drink my coffee, smoke some more of the duty free (and I must quit, I remind myself), start packing the car and making trips with the infinite small boxes of rubbish, many, many more things to go, books, shelves.
I apologize for the quality of the blogging, it is sliding, has slid, but things have gotten busy and busier and it will be some several weeks before they're back to normal. Bear with me.
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