On the move!

As many of you know, I am moving to Scotland at the end of August. I have a month and a half to pack up three years worth of life from four rooms, with the small matter of finishing a PhD at the same time. Now those of you who know me well will realise that my response to any vaguely interesting situation is to blog about it, and this, lets face it, could qualify as 'interesting times' in the sense of the ancient Chinese curse. I'm hoping however that it will also be interesting in a good way.

The packing is at a VERY early stage right now. I've divided the flat into a sorting area (the main landing), an area for piles of unsorted tat (the living room - I can just about get in there to eat and so on!) and an area for stuff that is already packed. (a small landing halfway down the stairs) All good fun, but the last of these three is the emptiest.

A few observations:
I am no good whatsoever at predicting what I will need more than a day in advance. Hence it is very difficult to pack clothes, books or kitchenware on the basis of not being able to use these for the next month and a half.
Food can in fact go bad in the freezer. Good thing I didn't put the chilli on my chips, just next to them.
Newspaper recycling is the last task on the agenda, after making sure all breakables are wrapped.
Two large boxes and one small one full of books makes hardly any dent on the main bookshelves and surrounding area, let alone the rest of the flat.
I have too many clothes. I could live happily with half as many. I cannot, however, bring myself to get rid of any individual item without a specific reason.