Keep, trash or cry: a moving story

When my cousin decided to move house, I thought it would be a simple operation: pack, load, move, unpack, done.

- SONJA BROWN

I regretted the moment I offered my assistance once I realised that I severely underestimated two things: the power of a hoarder's attachment to objects and the sheer volume of stuff one human can collect when left unchecked.

We started in the living room. I picked up a cracked teacup. There was no saucer. “Trash or keep?” I asked.

“Keep,” she said immediately. “That was the cup I was drinking from the day my puppy barked at the postman for the first time. Very sentimental.”

I sighed and tried again with a faded magazine from 1997. “This?”

“Definitely keep. That has an article predicting hoverboards by 2005. Historically important.”