New Computer Desk

[Yorkie]

I'm having one of those 'watershed moments' Colin too - gearing myself up for a good clear-out and de-cluttering phase. Over the next few months, I intend to get rid of most of my amateur radio stuff, have today put my telescopic antenna mast on e-bay with my son's assistance, and have booked a table at the G-QRP Club Convention at Ripponden in October - an annual event for low power transmitting and homebrew enthusiasts, when I hope to dispose of most of my amateur radio stuff - equipment and components built up over the last fifty years which I'm never likely to use. I just don't want the hassles of scores of e-bay listings of bits and bobs, packing and posting, and so forth.

I must slim down my vintage radio collection too, especially where I have more than one of the same set, so I might try listing a few on e-bay to see how things go. Over the years, when I've restored radios I don't then like to part with them, and rarely would the cost of restoration be covered by the selling price. For example, I recently restored a Pye Fenman1 - not a very sought after set. I put three NOS valves in it - in the FM tuner, output stage and a magic eye. Those alone cost more than what the set would be likely to fetch. My outlook is that it's my hobby, and hobbies cost money, so at best, I aim to cut my losses.

I too have garage shelves full of half-empty aerosol paint cans which probably have blocked nozzles, and the biscuit tins and jars full of nuts, bolts, screws etc which I'd have to spend an hour rifling through to find (or not find) the elusive item that I could buy for a few pence from Screwfix or wherever. And quite how I've come to have four sets of garden shears is one of life's mysteries. This last month we've taken at least fifty books to the Oxfam bookstore - all pristine, read only once, and we still have more books than we'll ever read, and CDs that we'll ever get round to listening to.

It's a truism that possessions expand to fill the space available. In my case, a double garage with a 60 ft of shelf space and a loft, a shed, a workshop, a study, a loft in the house, a small storeroom, four bedrooms. Even the greenhouse has stuff in it. If I don't truly grasp the nettle I risk becoming one of those eccentric old buffers - the 'hoarder next door'.

In part, this is what comes of having a very supportive and tolerant wife who ought to nag me into action. My motto needs to be 'if in doubt, chuck it out'!

I take the view that it took a long time for this stuff to accumulate and it's not going to be dissipated overnight. I've hung onto my amateur radio stuff for far too long, in the belief that my interest might be re-kindled, but it hasn't - I've not been on the air for years - it's far too sedentary an activity, I'm too much of a fidget, and my interests always lay in constructing rather than operating.