The perils of hoarding

[Paul_RK]

I recall a time when from his front door to his back door several rooms away you had to walk sideways through a tight "corridor" between all this gear!...

Ah yes, and much of the floor carpeted with upturned CRTs... more than once he said to me "What this place needs is a woman's touch... but without the woman!"

Novelist Hugh Walpole, a "confirmed bachelor" as they used to say, adopted an adult son to inherit his estate: maybe we should start looking out for a person or persons significantly younger than us who might welcome a legacy of 300+ radios and/or 4000 books. Whatever happens to them eventually, in the meantime we get to live with them. 

Paul

[Jez]

Indeed Paul, each one on a newspaper betwixt it and his Axminster carpet (I don't think I ever got out without being reminded that the carpet was Axminster and the sofa stuffed with real horse hair and that they don't make 'em like that anymore). And the worst cups of tea, always made with "Marvel" dried milk powder! "Do you fancy another cuppa Jez" No No! I'm fine thanks Tony! He's much missed

[Richard_FM]

I heard that comic expert Denis Gifford had so many boxes of comics in his house that for the last few years of his life he could only cook meals using the rings on his cooker as the kitchen had too many boxes of comics in to allow the oven door to be opened!

[PerdioPal]

I had a lady come round asking for me to fill in a "raja" radio diary, I am doing so just to prove at least someone uses FM and DAB, listens to the World Service (nice it is on DAB), Radio 4 and 4 Extra. She asked how many radios I have, I gave the somewhat shocked lady a tour of my collection, firing up the A22 too. That collection will stay with me until the end, if there is an afterlife and I see it all put in a skip I won't be annoyed.

[DrStrangelove]

After I read a book, it goes in a pile.

When the pile reaches a suitable height, they all go to the Oxfam bookshop in Swansea.

I'm sure they groan when they see me coming in through the door, but I've already donated all the redundant electronics tomes so it's mostly other non fiction now.

The latest one onto the pile is "Conspiracies of Silence" which is about Anthony Blunt, his friends & fellow travellers.

I suspect I'll pop my clogs before they're all gone which will leave the remainder for someone else to deal with.

I have boxes of old tv/radio manuals but I suspect those will hit the recycling.

[PerdioPal]

I bought a book about engineering in the Victorian era, 2" thick and very well made, very good read. As I left the charity shop I heard "Got rid of that weird book at last".

[BusyBee]

This reminds me that I have got a set of books on early electrical engineering which I haven't looked at for some time. I couldn't even say where they are but they are big enough.

Tracy

[Cobaltblue]

I suppose I am a hoarder of kinds.

I probably currently have around 400 sets including TV's and grams

The problem was those of us who were collecting in the 70's and 80's it could be quite tough to get the sets you really wanted and they were becoming expensive.

Added to that the focus of my collecting shifting several times you end up with many sets of little interest.

Add in 12 years almost continuously overseas so grabbing what I could when in UK

All the PYE Sunrises, all the round Ekco's, All the Murphy sets up till 1938 I didn't settle on Cossor till the early 00's 

Now I have around 200 sets of little interest mostly 1930's boxes.

I have already reduced my collection by over 100 sets in the last 2 years giving away over 30 sets since June alone.

My Core collection will probably be around 200 sets 

I will have to make some tough decisions within the next couple of years.

cheers

Mike T

[DrStrangelove]

This reminds me that I have got a set of books on early electrical engineering which I haven't looked at for some time. I couldn't even say where they are but they are big enough.

Tracy

Oh, I've kept all the Termans and the Glasgow and the Everett.

Got shot of most of the 70s/80s/90s stuff & kept the 30s/40s/50s.

All the 80s computer books will hit the recycling since they have no value at all anymore.