As I may just have mentioned a couple of times, we are off to Polyphony on Monday as soon as I have reclaimed Hugger Steward from the baggage check at Gatwick - and, as one of the world's most disorganised packers, I know that four hours after we arrive I will have to gloomily admit what essential item I've forgotten this time. My RevGalPals, in an effort to alleviate this dismal situation, have given me a chance to decide on the five essentials without which I should not, would not, could not leave home...which probably means that I'll find I have none of them by Monday evening.
Dreams are free, however, so this is my list of the things that I absolutely positively can't leave home without
1. Digital camera - since its advent in my life, Biggles has been a source of huge pleasure, helping me to look more carefully and to make more of the world around me than I ever have before. I usually manage the camera, to be fair - it's the charger that may be stuck in my study!
2. Journal and pens - even if I write nothing, I always go hoping for the time and space to think.
3. Books - usually deeply frivolous for the boat, but with one "been meaning to get around to" added to the box for good measure. I raided the Oxfam shop yesterday and emerged with a huge haul of cheap and cheerful fiction, largely of the detective variety..to that mix I will add "Take this Bread" which arrived too late for me to join in the RevGals discussions a few weeks ago, plus just possibly one other from my "work to read" piles.
4. Tapestry - I only ever seem to do this when on retreat or at the boat so progress on projects is terribly slow, but it's a good way to pass the time while the world slips past at 4 mph.
5. Music - ipod now, walkman in days of yore...My own instruments are not easily portable, but I love that Hugger Steward took his flute to Africa, and have vivid memories of inter railing as a student, and sharing a railway carriage from Copenhagen to The Hook of Holland with Robyn from New Jersey, who played her flute for us to sing all day long.
Great forgettings include - my father's pyjamas, on a weekend break in the New Forest when I was a small child...he was quite a formal man, the product of his age, - so he didn't have a spare tee shirt in his luggage, and this was a Bank Holiday weekend in the countryside, so no emergency shopping options...I don't remember what the resolution was, just the appalled and muffled expletive as he emptied his suitcase
-the Dufflepud's sleeping bag (or was it Hugger Steward's?) on an early music residential
- my towel - too often to contemplate (I'd never survive in a Douglas Adams galaxy) and my flannel and hairbrush too when I went to India
I'll let you know when I return home what the Great Missing Item was this time! Just so long as it's not the dog food/leads/toys/beds....travelling with a puppy reminds me of travelling with a baby, except that the feeds are trickier!
You've reminded me to take my tapestry - something to stab at to which I am not related as the friend who suggested I start it called it.
ReplyDeletehappy packing - i always leave something of my own out even as I overpack for everyone else!! There's a life lesson there...
ReplyDeleteYour list looks very like mine! I find that cross-stitch is a great airplane activity!
ReplyDeleteOh hilarity. You're reminded me of a family holiday long ago -- my parents used to take all four of their children intrepidly and spend two solid weeks on the road; they had learned that if they asked for a "salesman's room" in a motel we would get something like a suite, very spacious, with lots of room for folding cots, so we were all together. On this particular trip the younger generation were bedded down after a long day's drive; our parents went out for a walk, returning after we'd (stopped fighting and) gone to sleep. We were awakened in the pitch darkness by our father's imprecations as he tried to find his pyjamas -- and our mother's hoots of laughter. The next day we made a "retail stop" to rectify the omission. The only pair available in his size were violently patterned with diamond-shapes...so he was referred to as "Dear Diamondback Dad" for the rest of THAT trip. Thank you, Kathryn I haven't thought of that for years.
ReplyDeleteHope you remember all vital items. Have fun on "teh boat" and get some rest!
ReplyDeleteLove your Hitchhiker's Guide reference!
ReplyDelete