Souvenirs

I have so many objects to which, if I was asked why I kept them, I could only reply that they are souvenirs which bring to mind a place, people, an event, or sensations from a distant time which I want to remember. Some of them have outlasted their usefulness in that the association isn't really that important any more yet I hang on to them for old times' sake.

This little, poorly-framed photograph of HMS Victory, about 4" across, is an extreme example; I have no idea where it came from, and cannot even remember visiting the ship when I was young. Yet.... someone gave it to me, and it must have been important at the time as I've kept it for years; and, one day, I might remember the associated story.

When we downsize - because we can't go on rattling around in a house that's too large for us - I'll once again face some difficult decisions about my souvenirs. The small ones I will keep but I have some very large ones - my father's Arab chest is an example - which may not fit in to any new, smaller abode. Perhaps one of my children might be persuaded to take such objects as this would be the least painful way of disposing of them. If not, then I'll have to consider a charity shop, although having worked in one and having seen other people's once precious but now meaningless souvenirs come in, I don't think I can use that route. So, perhaps, Viking-like, what I might need is a funeral pyre.