This morning, in preparation for the arrival of a garbage skip later this week I’ve undertaken the stress busting task of smashing up a single bed with a lump hammer. Like pounding a punch bag, which I undertook during circuit sessions when pre-COVID gym visits were allowed, it’s a chore bequeathing an immeasurable lightening of life’s burdens.
It’s generally a short term reduction in strain, but as Ainsley Scragg stress counsellor Brookside Close observes, “It’s better to have felt relaxed and lost than never have relaxed at all.” Actually, what the confrontational support worker actually proffers as part of his treatment to the mentally traumatised is “Come on, Snap out of it!….. At least you’re not named after a now defunct Channel 4 soap opera!”
Anyhow, thanks to my lump hammer labour the furniture in question is now demolished in preparation for Wednesday’s unceremonious launch into the large yellow dumpster. Well, all apart from smashing the under bed drawers, which I’ve delayed due to their contents (a pile of DVDs and a few VHS cassettes) requiring review before proceeding with that task.
I’m unsure which of the movies and classic TV shows currently reside in these drawers (some for decades), However, despite this being the streaming era, I still own a DVD player; consequently I’ll audit the disks tomorrow when time permits.
One VHS tape catching my eye after removing the two bed drawers, was a family recording of the 1981 royal wedding service of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. If memory serves me correct, this copy made at my mums request, keeping this British historical event for posterity.
My mum still has owns a working VCR, subsequently I’ll probably enquire whether she wants this copy of a still historically significant ceremony. Being a staunch royalist, I suspect she’ll want to keep this memorable visual antiquity; after all its lasted a darned sight longer than Charles and Diana’s marriage.
That being said, I’ve not open the plastic box in which the video cassette resides. For all I know the tape, which I’d venture hasn’t seen the light of day since the 1980’s, may’ve disintegrated around the time of the couples 1996 divorce.
As an aside, I’ve not located the cassettes yet, however, somewhere I’ve video recordings of the 1985 Live Aid concerts at the UK’s Wembley Stadium and the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
A memorable clambake featuring performances from many of the late 20th century’s top musical acts, including Queen, Elton John, The Who, George Michael, U2, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, Tom Petty, Black Sabbath, Bryan Adams and Led Zeppelin.
An event where joint organiser, along with Ultravox’s Mdge Ure, Bob Geldof’s use of the ‘F’ word during early evening BBC coverage became possibly the biggest earning use of a curse word in history. His ‘F’ bomb a catalyst for thus far slow donations to increase to fiscal promises of £300 per second.
Despite the aforementioned historical recordings at my disposal. none of them come close to the importance of the video cassettes I have of my now adult offspring as babies/toddlers. Scenes I captured on a video camera between 1991-1995.
Unlike Live Aid and the Charles and Diana wedding, those particular memories not making one jot of difference on the UK’s overall historic canvas. However, they remain, and I guess always will be, the events yours truly most cherishes while meandering this vale of tears.
