Stuff

Going through boxes and shelves at dad’s house is quite a task. Things are all over the place, it’s a real jumble. As we go through life we accumulate so much stuff.

I am wanting to declutter and sort out my own home this winter, so I don’t want to bring too much away from dad’s house. I’ve already got a big plastic box of his own writings which I want to go through some time.

However, this little piece of tourist tat - and a similar little Eiffel Tower - are coming home. When I was nine or ten years old we had a school trip to Paris, the first time I had ever been abroad. I didn’t travel abroad again until I was nineteen or twenty. I can still remember the excitement of the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the French capital. The smell of gitanes cigarettes, the first ever taste of croissants and baguettes, the lights at night, and from a distance president Charles de Gaulle entering Notre Dame cathedral (his hat was all I could see). The little Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower I brought back as gifts for mum and dad.