Travelling Light

You should travel through life with only a rucksack, I was told recently, and it’s an idea that appeals. Materialist? Me? Oh no. If the house were on fire, what would I grab?

Well, after all the people were out, and the cat and the snake and the gecko - oh, I can hear some of you calling “Let those reptiles roast!”, but I’m not going to in this imaginary version, though I suspect I might in real life – well, then it would be the photograph albums and the pictures, because I’d feel really lost without some of those.

After that a few books, but hardly any really since most books can be replaced – I might just seize The Sleepy Water Vole, the first book I really loved, with its wonderful illustrations of summer countryside - - and that’s it I think. The rest will just have to burn.

Which is interesting, since I am currently in a bed and breakfast near Coniston, just staying for the one night. Just one night - - and in the room are three holdalls (one is quite small, honest), my handbag, one rucksack (aha! that’s the one I’m travelling through life with) three carrier bags, one cloth bag and my laptop. Plus a couple of coats, because we have been to see an outdoor play, and it might have been cold, though it wasn’t. And some waterproofs, because it might have been wet, though it wasn’t. Oh yes, and the walking boots, of course.

I think I’ll have to work at this travelling light thing. In my defence, I was sorting things out in the office until just before we left, so just slung in anything I might possibly need. Not a very stylish approach, perhaps, but it does work when time matters more than space does. This one-rucksack approach will take rather more planning, I can tell.