I’ve done something radical

I always knew this day would come. It was just a matter of time.

I’ve given the album collection to Andy to sell Almond River Records 

They’re gone.

It was that or pay someone a lot of money to move 48 boxes into the new house, where I’d have to accommodate them and I just couldn’t face that.

It’s a big moment and since I did it, some have sold for about £2,000 and Andy hasn’t even skimmed the surface yet. Once the decision was made, I didn’t look back or even feel bad. I’d made peace with myself about it. I always knew that the deal is, you pass the music on  and that I was only the custodian while I had them.

That was what I always loved about collecting. It’s philosophical. There’s none of the preciousness of owning a possession and being defensive about it. You pass it all on. Collecting them was half my life’s work, since I sold the first collection in 1989 and I loved every minute crate digging and wading through charity shop junk. In fact I might do it all again. There’s a record shop in Montrose, they won’t know what’s hit them when I turn up. and I realised that at least 50% of the fun is the scouring, finding and buying.

I kept a handful of favourites that I listen to a lot but records I didn’t even remember having have all gone and boosted Andy’s stock by over 50%!

They’ll take years to sell and will be a nice wee income stream hopefully but it’s time for someone else to enjoy them.

I plan to continue collecting on a much more selective basis. Previously, I went for volume, buying dozens of records at once, from the Carpenters to Commander Cody. But the glory days of the cheap album are long behind us now, back when it was unfashionable and vinyl was disregarded as old fashioned. 

But about 500 great albums and rarities would be nice. Dawn reckons it’ll get out of control again and I won’t be able to stop myself and before you know it I’ll be buying Leo Kottke albums. However, I think I will be able to. I might be fooling myself but there’s a point when they take up and weigh so much that they do become a burden and that time is now.

I’d already sold all the singles to another dealer and I took a box of cassettes to the dump. I didn’t know if they’d even play, as a lot were 40-50 years old. I gave away almost all our books too. The funny thing is, once you’ve let things go, you never even think about them. I’m like that writing books. Once they’re published, I can’t even remember more than a few storylines. Luckily, my editor keeps an encyclopedia of characters and which books they have a presence in.

I suppose material possessions are, per force, transient things and as life progresses their importance perhaps wanes being supplanted by living in the now as time runs out.

Even 30 years ago, I knew this day would come, I just put it to the back of my mind. And considering their importance in my life for so long, I can’t really say I miss them, all of which makes me wonder how much I was really attached to them in the first place!

I have many old favourites, maybe they're yours too?

Photo by Piano Piano!

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