The desk was full of a variety of objects from my late teens which had been stored when I left home in 1988 to go to college. There were letters and postcards and photographs and books and magazines concert programs and knick knacks (not "nik-naks" apparently!) galore. And naturally, the immediate response for me when faced with a slab of personal ephemera from bygone days like this is to sit and sift, and sit a bit longer sift a bit more until I have worked through it all piece by piece, reminiscing and marveling at the naiveties of my youthful concerns until the day had gone and it was time to return home.
This time however I was ruthless! Letters, photographs, postcards, programs, and books awarded at junior school were swiftly dispatched to a plastic bag, unread, unlooked at and probably feeling a tad unloved. Do not fear however, I wasn't going to bin them, no no no, I merely transferred them to the boot of the car to transport back to Newcastle to peruse at my leisure(sic) when I return home later in the summer. No doubt I will probably "lose" a day or two once I start rifling through them, but hey, that's nostalgia for you.
Another task I had to undertake was to review the contents of an old biscuit tin containing my rather embarrassing keyring collection from the late '70s and early '80s. It contained hilarious manky bits of plastic/leather/metal/ that seemed so important to me as a kid but now seemed a little bizarre. I did rescue a few including a skull and crossbones which I think came from the front of Smash Hits (or some other pop music mag) when Adam Ant was at the height of his fame and this little treasure:
This is actually an Edelweiss bought for me by my sister, and it seemed fitting to post here on my Vienna blog (even though I think it was bought in Salzburg but I won't tell if you don't). I did toy with the idea of bringing it with me to carry my Austrian flat keys on but as the Edelweiss is a symbol of Austrian patriotism, I decided against it.
