I have to pack again! I don’t want to sound ungrateful or churlish but it does fill me with dread! This time we are away for almost six weeks! I can barely manage the usual two week holiday so six weeks is just way outside my comfort zone!
But I have started, one whole week early, by sorting through my earrings drawer and separating them by colours. This will make packing easier so that is why I claim to have started! I can’t, however, understand how easily I lose one earring so have a number of odd ones which I have finally thrown away!
I do, however, think we have a resident jewellery ghost. Either that or I am misplacing things and should begin to worry! I’ll probably worry anyway because that is what I do, but I am hoping that it’s not me! I am brave now because my husband doesn’t go away anymore. I wouldn’t be quite so blasé if I was home alone!
I’ll give an example. I have a ‘thing’ about watches. I have well over a dozen, all in different colours to match most of my outfits! But they didn’t cost the earth. I bought them from two shops in the States, one in Naples in Florida with a friend and the other in a pretty little town called Kennebunkport in Maine. They are fashion watches so cost a few dollars each but don’t look cheap. I also bought a significant amount of batteries ( they all use the same size) so won’t run out for years!
I think the resident ghost has a ‘thing’ about my watches and ‘borrows’ them! When we visited my family in Boston in July my husband and I dropped our hired car off at the garage and walked back to my son’s house. It was very hot and humid so I removed the chunky gold watch I was wearing to help tidy up the kitchen. I was sure that I had taken the watch back to our bedroom but when I got home to the UK it was gone! I searched everywhere then finally gave up, convinced I had left it in Boston.
I keep my watches in a makeup bag. When we returned from Boston I put the watches back into their bag. This is when I realised that the gold watch was missing. I packed, then repacked the bag and it definitely wasn’t there! Last Saturday we were going out with friends. I was wearing gold jewellery and voiced my concern that my gorgeous gold watch was now missing so had to chose another colour. I emptied the bag and chose a black one. Packing the watches back I noticed a small plastic bag in the corner. I pulled it out and was gob-smacked when I realised it was the lost gold watch! Strange but true!
I can quote similar instances about earrings and necklaces. Not a lot of people believe me when I tell them and my husband thinks I’m weird anyway so get no sympathy from him! My mother-in-law used to lose silver objects in her old house so she would be my most receptive ally. She has also told me that she asks St. Christopher to help her find missing items so maybe that’s what I should do from now on!
I digress! Back to packing! I have an added problem! We go to Hong Kong for four days. It will be warm. We then fly to New Zealand. Their weather is very changeable at this time of year but certainly not warm. I could have had two bags with a total weight if 40kgs. I can’t because we are catching trains and flying interstate in New Zealand then on to Australia. I can only pack 23kgs so I’m stymied!
But, I have started packing. I now have a bathing costume, joggers and trainers and my knee straps on the bed in the spare room. I have a few pairs of earrings and some necklaces in a bag. There are multi vitamins and my ‘beauty’ tablets, a winter jacket and a pair of pyjamas. That’s it so far.
I’m going to sleep on it and continue in the morning! 👠
Jenny Burrell 