THE MEMORY VAULT
According to Simon Armitage, a memory vault is a
room set apart, a spare bedroom, now seldom occupied but at one time housing a
member of the family and kept as a sort of shrine to an absence, a sort of
treasure chest filled with memorabilia and an atmosphere of another time.
In my case, the memory vault is not just a room but
extends throughout the house, with bits and pieces scattered around surfaces
and in cupboards, not quite like fairy dust but each one linked to a person,
place or event and having it’s own story to tell. Not a
particularly great or notable story perhaps, and nine and a half
times out of ten worth nothing of material value – just a random collection of
things stored and ‘held onto’ over the years – some would call it ‘junk’… Many
items stretch back much further than my lifetime and several well over a
hundred years.
Now we are due to move house, this is the moment
when each and every piece – small and large, are given more than the occasional
nod or glance and actually pass through our hands to be carefully wrapped and
packed in a box ready for transporting. As this sequence of memories goes
before my eyes, I journey back through the times and places, reliving both the
event and the emotions – no wonder I find the whole procedure tiring and have
to pace out the packing over several days and even weeks!
From snippets of our childrens’ hair stored in
envelopes and carefully labled, to a collection of shells from various beaches
and holidays, small ornaments and bits of china, boxes of slides, and even a
vase of dried flowers from the south of France… And the most laborious tasks of
all – looking through countless photographs, some loose, some in albums, others
in frames, and of course hundreds of old cards and letters – secured into
bundles by elastic bands or tied with ribbons.
And then I wonder – could this be the moment to
shed my responsibility as custodian and break the tradition or thread linking
past with present?.. No, I don’t think so, I don’t have the drive, desire or
courage to do that. Instead, these ‘souvenirs’ will continue to travel with us
and find a new home in another house, but it’s always a good memory test to
revisit the ‘vault’ and individually handle and gaze at the contents and give
each one a special moment.
Here are a few old friends or ‘lodgers’ who will
accompany us when we move –
a handful of giraffes – guess where from….
a few small glass bottles dug up in a garden,
and some pretty boxes and caskets.
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