Things I love… No. 68

In the vault of one of the big Swiss grand hotels twenty five old trunks were hidden away for over one hundred years. Travelling in the earlier part of the twentieth century was a prerequisite, a prerogative of the ruling classes; maharajas from India, landlords from England, Dutch colonists from Africa… their riches either inherited or generated mainly by means of shrewd trading with tea, spices, exotic woods, ivory or confiscated lands.

In storage for the annual visits of their wealthy owners, these massive trunks somehow got forgotten – either a pending war, life-changing circumstances or simply lack of finances led to their owners not returning as planned to this particular hotel to spend the winter months…

An exact inventory was made and each and every little object itimized and catalogued.  Interesting to see what people left in depot for another year. The obvious and indispensible things like woollen plaids, warmer clothes and footwear, wooden board games and childrens’ toys, jewellery… but also less expected things like complete tea-sets and dinner-services, silver, plaited hair, drawings, photographs and love letters.

Hearing about these trunks first hand, made me wonder what things my trunk would contain. What would I put away for another winter, another summer… ? What would I leave there  if I knew I wouldn’t have access to these things for a whole year – a complete century or even indefinitely?

My trunk or time capsule would most probably contain songs and lyrics – perhaps a few drawings/pictures of precious people close to me. Stories too, the stuff of life. What would yours contain?

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