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Beware glowing balls
Posted by daveb on July 13th, 2007
We’re sorting through our possessions into piles: Take travelling, keep but store, sell, donate to charity store, recycle and, worst case, put into landfill (which we actively try to avoid). I’ve not found it that difficult to sort things into piles. Certainly far less of the mental tug-of-war and the “should I, shouldn’t I?” in-head conversations than I had expected.
What has blown me sideways however, is the sheer amount of… um, what’s the word… cack, that I have accrued over the last few years of my life.
You’ll no doubt know me as a reasonable guy with a fairly rounded personality and of good humour. So can anyone please explain to me why on earth I would, twelve months ago, spend £10 of my hard-earned cash on three rechargable decorative multi-coloured glowing balls from B&Q DIY store, when all I went there to get was a length of skirting board? Furthermore, after showing my bemused girlfriend my glowing balls, I then filed them in drawer two of my two-drawer bedside table, for them never to see the light of day (or night) again.
I just sorted through the rest of my bedside table into the aforementioned piles. Not a single item has made it into the ‘take’ or ‘keep’ pile. Worse still; this story continues throughout my packing experience. There is something quite sinister going on here and I am beginning to open my eyes and recognise that I am the consumer that I so hate. My glowing balls will go to charity, rather than landfill but it begs me to ask myself the important question: “Why did I buy them in the first place?”
I have made a little pact with myself that, in the future, I shall think carefully three times about everything I buy. This rampant consumerism is killing our planet and benefits no-one, save the men in the business of manufacturing decorative multi-coloured glowing balls. One of my favourite quotes (and songs, and films):
“The things you own, own you.”
(Between Angels and Insects, Infest, Papa Roach.
Lyrics inspired by Fight Club.)
Have you got any glowing balls that you’d like to share with the world? (Use the comments section.) Isn’t it time that you got rid of your glowing balls too?
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Comments
Comment from Chloe
Time: July 14, 2007, 9:55 am
The unfortunate thing is – when I saw your glowing balls I thought “Oh wow – our neighbours have a set of them glowing constantly in their sitting room and it lights up the corner in a really nice way… I wish I had some”…
Re “cack”… know exactly what you mean. We’ve untold ‘treasures’ (ahem… really?) waiting for us to clear out from our Bristol house loft… when we can be bothered to both be there, have a large trailer destined for the recycling/dump or skip and actually sort through it. Since we’ve not needed any of it for nearly 4 years, I’ve no idea what’s there (a few books that I have missed and can’t find… and loads of that other stuff called ‘cack’). The likelihood of that happening this year is somewhat distant (nigh on impossible!). Then there’s our loft here in Cambridge… with some of the stuff still left over from the previous deceased person (that FANTASTIC wallpaper that surely no-one would ever consider putting on a wall and then painting it lilac (oh yes… that was our bedroom colour when we arrived… with a pink carpet ;o) … that old fire grate (?????)… and bit’n’pieces we’ve just chucked up there to moulder)
I’d love to sort it out (yes really!) as the thought of the clarity it’ll bring afterwards it lovely… it’s just I’m not really now at my most able, with the new added bump and expected arrival in late Sept…. yeah yeah excuses excuses!!!
Good luck to you both on your continued ransacking :o)
Comment from Sista
Time: July 15, 2007, 12:29 pm
I like cack. Please can you airmail them over to me?
Comment from Dave (Red Hat)
Time: September 17, 2007, 5:51 pm
I did indeed have a set of those balls! I used to keep them on my desk at work and they soothed me while I was going through a very intense 6 month project (80-100hr weeks etc).
Eventually I left that employer, but I left the balls behind to give hope and a soothing environment to those I left behind…
Tat?… Absolutely! But they served their purpose, and are still going strong according to recent reports.
It’s all in what you do with them I guess.
P.S. Maplins were the delinquents that sold them to me… £4.99, and like you I saw them later in B&Q. Luckily I resisted getting another set ;o)
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