IMS_Blog

I was really expecting there to only be slowly decaying junk, of the sort that must slowly fill every loft in its own peculiar contribution to the heat death of the universe. However, some of the stuff up there was useful, or interesting, or surprisingly personal.

The child’s drawings lingering near the hatch I left, along with the pile of old, indistinguishable clothing. The first real box (past the empty, flower patterned suitcase) eventually revealed a collection of books, most in very good condition. They were a varied selection of classics, contemporary fiction, and sports books from the late ’80s/early ’90s (incidently, is it obligatory for every house to contain at least four Ian Banks novels?). Almost all of those have been piled into bags for charity. Another box revealed some cups and plates, again set for charitable donations. Further boxes (still up there) showed chemistry degree course notes and a lot about specialist polymers. Another bunnch of stuff I brought down revealed more course notes, this time from a fashion course of some sort, complete with associated dress making patterns. Strangely amoungst all that sat an envelope containing school work books (belonging to the same person) from what I guess would be pre GCSE level. It seemed almost a shame that they’d travelled that far only to be abandoned in the dark. Not as sad as the wedding collection I discovered lurking at the back. A wedding photo album, and more loose photographs, plus Valentine’s Day cards and the like. I presume testament to a relationship lost but it seems strange to have clung on enough to hide them up there only to in the end abandon them. I didn’t feel they needed to see the full light of day, so their smiling faces are still haunting the loft.

The television which I managed to somehow lower out surprisingly works, though I’m not entirely clear I have a use for yet another TV. Perhaps I can find a charity to take that too. I’m just upset I didn’t find the great forgotten art work to make my fortune. At least there’s still plenty of room to hide our junk up there.

Oh, and on a related note, the empty boxes finally got taken to the recycling facility at the local dump, so no more house full of cardboard (well, nearly all gone anyway).