Look at my filth. Look at it

Packing. It’s an evocative word. Evocative of deep boredom. I’ve started packing in earnest for this weekend’s house move (something I haven’t done in over 11 years – I’m no mug) and when I shut my eyes, brown cardboard boxes dance and frolic in my mind. Even the ones still flat-packed and tape-naked. Especially those.

I bought a “value pack” from a storage company and I’m now the proud owner of 15 brand new boxes of varying size (plus two free rolls of tape, which smell like a damp toilet – and I know this because one of the characterful features of the new places is a damp – fetid would be too strong a word – toilet under the stairs). And there are more boxes in the loft – not that I can get into the loft as I need the ladder, which is in the shed, but my neighbour has the shed key… but anyway.

That’s my front room, on the right. The first packing task was the straightforward bunging of 20 years of records and CDs (my parents would like to say “apart from the hundreds you stored at our house” at this point) into, out of necessaity, the smallest of the value pack’s offerings. For anyone who grew up in the post-vinyl era and doesn’t realise, records are pound for pound heavier than uranium. I hate carrying around records so much. But, I love records. The things you do for love.

I also realised what an awful lot of CDs I bought at a time when I was really into music – like, REALLY into it – but without a terribly effective level of quality control. If I’m honest, can I actually remember what It’s Jo And Danny sound like? Did I actually BUY that Kinks compilation, or did I win it in a game of Here, Have Some Crap? Bad DJ Shadow is still bad. And being DJ Shadow won’t change that.

So quite a lot is probably destined for the loft. But – and this is the kicker, which will infuriate my girlfriend and turn me into exactly the kind of anal music bore I’ve sort-of-successfully not been for most of the 21st century – I don’t yet know what. It’s Jo And Danny will require a listen, maybe two to be sure. And DJ Shadow is just the kind of hip cut a groovy freak like me wants to have on display, right? Gear!

So if you’re after dodgy nineties indie freebies, ask me in about 4 weeks time whether I’ve been through it all yet. Reckon you’ll get lucky.