Slow Spin

BBC2: Life Laundry. I have unwittingly watched this show regularly for the past month now, and I'm beginning to understand the appeal it has on me. In each show Dawna Walter (a ruthless disposals expert) and Mark Franks (antiques dealer) offer to de-junk someone's home and their lives. First a tour around the house, with lots of panning shots of piled up clothing, old books, furniture, board games and photos. Then everything is moved into the garden, with the stock response "My god, I didn't know we had so much stuff!" Everything is sorted out, some things sold at a car boot sale, some given to charity and some things destroyed in The Crusher. Everything is put back into the house, shelves are put up and walls are given a lick of paint. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Everyone is happy, especially the kids.

Dawna is like a modern day female american Buddha, coming down and telling us to get rid of our worldly goods. A lesson in solipsism. She shifts our priorities from our belongings to ourselves. This is my room, this is my house. Your young children and old relatives no longer live here. Memory is everything, material is nothing. To paraphrase the Fight Club mantra, you are more than your belongings. She is quite brutal in slaying sentimentality. A few weeks ago, she insisted on disposing old dresses, once belonging to the woman's mother. "Your mother isn't with us anymore" she told the teary eyed daughter. "Your memories are far more important than these old dresses".

And she has a point. I'm quite a sentimental hoarder myself, I have Christmas cards from secondary school, clothes that no long fit that I "still might wear" and dozens of CD's that I bought on a whim and don't even listen to (Greatest Hit of Andrew Lloyd Webber, what the hell was I thinking!!! It was only £2 though...). My room often looks like those panning shots at the beginning of each program, with piles of crap everywhere. But now I'm on a road to Dumpmascus. I have started packing things up: two rubbish bags of old cards and letters, two bags of unwanted clothes for charity and a quick look through my CD collection and can already see a dozen I don't want anymore. Already I can feel my soul lightening...