As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'll be leaving Thailand pretty soon. Among other things, that means packing up all my stuff and having it sent to Australia.
I've never been a particularly materialistic person, and I like to think of myself as somebody who lives fairly minimally. There are two things, however, that I like to collect, and it just so happens that they're pretty much the heaviest things you can have when packed into boxes — books and vinyl records.
I've moved house more times than I can remember since I was a teenager, so I'm used to the reality that you have to throw away a lot of stuff every time you move in order to minimise the amount of boxes. It actually feels good to throw away stuff that you don't really need, or better yet, to give it away or sell it to somebody who does need it. You somehow feel lighter when you get rid of unwanted things in your life. But no matter how minimally you try to live, when you stay in one place for more than a couple of years, you can't help but accumulate lots of stuff — most of it bits and pieces and random paraphernalia that you really don't need. They're the things that make your home your own comfortable space, but they're also the things that become a big burden when you have to move.
Since I arrived in Thailand nine years ago with only a small suitcase, this is the first time I've had to deal with shipping a lot of stuff to another country. Because of that, I have to be pretty ruthless about getting rid of things that I don't really need. My collection of books and records, though, is one thing that I can't part with. For me, books and records aren't just ornaments; they're what I use on a daily basis to make life enjoyable and interesting. As well as being entertaining, they can teach you many things about the world and expand your mind. Sometimes they're also irreplaceable, since books and records rarely stay in print forever. While many of these things can be accessed online these days, for me, listening to music or reading books through a computer just isn't the same as enjoying them as stand-alone, physical objects.
At the moment my small flat is packed full of boxes, ready to be moved to wherever I'll be living in Melbourne. I hope they all get there in one piece!
Ben Edwards
Editor
[email protected]
