Stuff

In early Aug, while Rika was in Japan, the moving company delivered our furniture and 'stuff'.   In total  199 boxes or items which took the team of 6 a full day to unload.  This had filled our 3-bed apartment in Tokyo, and although we'd thrown out a lot before we left, it was clearly going to be difficult to squeeze it all into our new 2-bed.

The moving company had given us lots of glossy brochures and welcome gifts.  But they put less thought into packing and storing our goods during Hong Kong's humid summer.   It was only just before delivery that it became clear the storage hadn't been humidity controlled  ("thats extra sir").

Most of the clothes had been packed with moisture-absorbing sachets and were largely mould free.  Rika's Yoji Yamamoto leather jacket was covered with mould but it cleaned easily.

The furniture and bedding was a different story since it had not been packed so carefully.  Most of the fabric and cushions had gone moldy and mould had even penetrated deep into the wood of our bed.   I didn't want to take any chances with moldy furniture in the flat so I threw-out our sofa, bed, chair-covers, cushions, and half our  futons.

We rapidly discovered that Hong Kong residents, especially 'gweilos in the mist', face a constant battle with mould and most have to keep air-con and/or dehumidifiers running to keep it under control.   Perhaps this helps explain why air-con in most Hong Kong buildings is set so low - chilling the air to 18 degrees takes out a lot of the moisture.   We don't keep our flat so cold, but we now have 3 dehumidifiers running to lower the humidity from 80%+ to 60%.  They hold 6 liters of water in total and typically have to be emptied morning and night.

Even without a sofa the flat still felt a little cluttered.

Over the last few weeks Rika has been steadily sorting her possessions.   Essential stuff that must stay in the apartment...

....stuff that can be moved into storage...

...and stuff that can be thrown-out.

We hired a storage space (humidity controlled) in a facility at an industrial estate near Aberdeen, a 15 min taxi ride away.  Its an amazing place with 30 story industrial buildings squeezed onto a small space of flat land, hacked out of a rocky hill-side.

Yesterday another team of movers came to move 45 boxes into storage.   We can now see most of the floor in the living room.  Although the 2nd bed-room/study is still too full to use as a bed-room. 

All this moving and sorting rather puts me off accumulating possessions.

It is obvious that we tend to buy too much stuff and then have to buy yet more stuff to organize it, or rent more space to store it in.  And most of this stuff is left unused until we eventually throw it out to make room for new stuff...

So I've been ruthless in throwing out clothes and storing books.  In the flat Im down to 2 boxes of files (mainly family history), 1 box of books (cooking, chinese, Hong Kong and a few key reference), my shakuhachi and music, and my PCs.   Oh, and a few draws full of classic DVDs which I paid for and cant bear to throw out before I watch them.