On a roll

So, fixing the tv meant I could take an old crt tv to the recycling plant, along with two old BT Homehubs - that BT claim they can't recycle - so that's cleared a bit of space, especially in the spare room when the tv I fixed had been taking up floor space.

Next to get a going over was my books.  I basically had a quick look and on first glance, books I knew I wouldn't read again went in a bag.  This included a wee pile of Ken MacLeod and Iain M Banks.  I have kept a couple of books by both, as they're signed.  The rest now have a new home with a friend, who also got some Alistair Reynolds.

I've since decided that the China Mieville books can go as well, except for the one he signed and dedicated for me when I met him at a convention in London.  The rest WILL be replaced, but on the Kindle.

Clive Barker took a pounding as well.  All my Barker books (again apart from one signed one) are now in a bag and waiting to go to the charity shop.  Again, these may be replaced at some point by Kindle versions.

Initially, getting rid of books was hard.  I'm a hoarder, and I love the look of a shelf full of books, but seriously, keeping them for the sake of having them, when I know I probably will never read them again, is just plain daft.  The best thing to do is pass them on and let others get the pleasure from them that I got.

Normal service has been resumed.

So, just almost two weeks since we got back from Jordan, and it's starting to feel like we were never away.
I'm starting to re-evaluate things.  I like travelling, but I've accumulated a shitload of stuff.  Some of it needs to go.
I need to cut back on the spending as well, as I really want to spend more time abroad.  It's a big world out there, and you only have a limited time to see as much of it as you can, and that means cutting out buying crap, and squirrelling away money for the next trip.

It's not going to be easy, especially as I've still got to pay for the one we're just been on, but it's doable if I put my mind to it.

The ongoing clearout

So, I've started the clearout, and I've a bag of dvd's that I'll take to Missing sometime this week.  (If anyone is interested and want's a bargin, give me a shout pronto)

I've also got my Praktica 35mm SLR and 3 lenses, along with a camera bag, flash and autowind, that I'm open to offers on. (Does anyone still use film?)

I've also (finally) got rid of the massive brick that was the ancient desktop, and also my Dell that blew up last year (not as spectacular as it sounds).  I stripped the hard drive, dvd drive and ram from the laptop first.  I'm passing the dvd drive and memory to a friend to use himself, and I'm keeping the hard drive to see if I can get an adaptor that'll let me use it as an external drive or something.

So, not having a desktop, there's no need for a computer desk, so when I get home, the allan keys are coming out and it's getting stripped.down and binned as well.

In place of the computer desk, I'll be making a wee trip to Ikea for another bookcase, and that'll take care of the boxes of books that are cluttering up the spare room and making it unuseable.

So, that's my (cunning) short term plans.