Critically important decisions

Well, expateek's been bumming today. The removals company rep came over the other day, and expateek assured the woman that, yes, many of the things in the house would be gotten rid of before moving day. You know. Things like trash. The broken fax machine. The threadbare sock collection. The piles of New Yorker magazines. And so on.

But this means that expateek has to go around the house with a critical eye and look at everything. Is it really worth shipping? Can you buy one of these on the other side? Can you do without it?

And the answers are yes, NO, and NO!NO!NO!

Take this lamp, for instance.

In her first winter in England, back in 2002, expateek was suffering from severe light deprivation. Dr. Owl would call it Seasonal Affective Disorder, and Mr D would call it "hell, expateek, get up off that couch and do something, for Pete's sake!", but expateek was suffering. The gloom and the damp, damp, damp English winter got under her skin.

But instead of just curling up into a small ball and crying herself to sleep, expateek decided to do something about the problem. Every Sunday morning, she went to the local boot sale (car trunk sale) in Ascot and bought herself a lamp. The price limit was £5.

She bought a bunch of lamps. She took them home and turned them on all at once, and suddenly all the astronomers in southern England were wondering why they couldn't see any stars through their telescopes anymore everyone was a lot happier and her Mr D's electrical bill shot through the roof. But it was cheaper than drugs or therapy, so no one complained... much.

Now, she has to look at whether it's really worth it to ship a lamp like this all the way across the ocean, especially since she'll have to re-wire it for 110V and God only knows what else. It could be a lot of trouble for a £5 lamp.

On the other hand, she knows that the shade alone could make it all worth while.

Boot sale lamp?



£5







Dinner party hi-jinks?



Priceless.



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