Little boxes, little boxes

There's been a long silence on my blog, and now I can tell you why.

We've been negotiating a house move for almost six months, and finally the day has arrived.

It's only really because we have the packers in to put the house in boxes that I've got time to sit and write today.

More about the house in a later blog, but first let me tell you - if you ever move house, be kind to yourself and pay the removal company to pack for you!

For the last week we've been fretting about having things put away or collected together in one organised pile to make things simple. I was all for packing the house before the packers arrived (you know, you clean the place ready for the cleaner?).

Anyway, the packers arrived at nine this morning, and by 12 they had a third of the house packed (and we're in a four-bedroom house at the moment!). In fact, we went shopping, and came back to find another room completed.

One of the fascinations of moving is discovering things you've been saving that you haven't used for years. In my case it was 23 years of accounts and diaries. And letters and programmes and floppy disks...

Fascinating to read and remember the jobs I've had in the past. My first job (Carmen Jones at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield), my first West End job (The Sneeze with Rowan Atkinson), my first Musical Director job (Notre Dame at Sadlers Wells and the Oxford Fire Station), and the hundreds of contracts I'd done as a rehearsal and audition pianist (Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, La Boheme, Rigoletto, Carmen Jones, Moby Dick the musical, and a host of others.

Once I'd got over sitting in a heap reading my past life, being astonished how I survived on such a small income, and even getting emotional over some of the stuff (and people) I've worked with, it was time to shred. Needless to say we had to buy another shredder. Very satisfying, particularly shredding the people you don't like.


Of course, professional removal firms don't have any emotional attachment to your stuff, so as far as they are concerned, they just wrap it and put it in a box.

It's an exhilarating time, if you leave the packing to the professionals!

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