Belgium

I went to Belgium last weekend. It was really good fun and I had an amazing time. I now have a love for cherry beer and Flemish (in which I am practically fluent, it’s just English in a silly accent). I went to Belgium with my flatmate and her boyfriend as a way to celebrate the end of an era. Next weekend my flatmate and I go our separate ways after living together for 3 years. Going to Belgium was a nice way to say goodbye (before we move in to separate houses about 100 yards apart) and also an excellent way to delay the hell of packing.

We have a lot of shit.

So far I have discovered 3 out of date calendars, a list of the things we decided to buy when we moved in together and 7 empty jars of marmite which I have decided to keep for some reason. We also need to separate the things which we have purchased together. This ranges from things we both want and things that I will pay good money to never see again.

One of our major jobs is to divide up our celebrity photos. When we moved in together we thought it would be fun to have various celebrities welcome us to our home. So our fictional friend (Angela Parkinson) wrote to people explaining that we were huge fans of theirs and would really appreciate a signed photo as a house warming present. Therefore when people walk in to our house they are treated to a wall of photos all signed “To Julie and Laura, Good luck in your new house, love Bob Carolgees and Spit the Dog”. Some people were thoughtful (Little and Large, Noel Edmonds) and sent a card for both of us. Others (that’s you Geoffrey Hayes) only sent one between us. I am willing to do some bargaining. Perhaps barricade Julie in her room with empty marmite jars until she agrees to give me Geoff Capes.

Our other job is the reality tv collection. It started innocently enough. A friend of mine got down to the final 50 on Australian idol and I bought the dvd so I could see her. We then became slightly intrigued and bought the other Australian idols and then American idols, then went on a mission to collect as much reality tv as possible. Thanks to this we are now the proud owners of such gems as “Little Lady Fauntleroy”, “John’s not Mad” and “Teenage Tourette Camp”. My particular favourite is Australian Princess where 10 bogans from the wilds of Australia are trained in the art of royalty by Paul Burrell.

I will probably end up getting very bored of packing and insist that she takes everything and end up having to nip round to hers everyday to steal all my stuff back. My main problem is that I become terribly sentimental about things. When my granddad died and we had to clear his house out I became dreadfully upset about any of his things going in the bin. As a result I am the proud owner of a terrifying china dog and a child’s cash register. I am hoping that I’ll be able to keep a handle on things and not end up with a house full of other people’s crap by the time I’m 50. I’ll have enough crap of my own by then.