Ready to scarper on Wednesday evening, I have managed to reduce my entire personal junkstash to a ten-square-foot locker at a Glasgow SafeStore unit, and a single suitcase of functional stuff, which is coming with me for the escape. Here are ten immediate thoughts about mobility and “stuff”:
Mobility versus “stuff”
1. I think I value mobility above all else. Mobility is freedom. Anything that compromises your mobility – a house, a grounded job, a possession, an expectation – is another nail in the coffin of your freedom.
2. Most of my “stuff” is in the form of books. It’s telling that my final vice is probably one that most people would overcome before, say, cooking utensils or clothes. I don’t own much of anything. Just a modest number of books. With libraries and broadband almost wherever you go, there is no reasonable argument for a personal book collection so I’m forced to admit to object fetishism. I look forward to the day that I’m unsentimental enough to cut loose my ten square-feet, settling to own but two suits, a laptop and a library card.
3. Mobility and “stuff” don’t mix. When people flee the cities in disaster movies, they always fill their cars with as much junk as possible. I love that. There’s a lot of absurdity in the idea of an alien tripod in pursuit of a Vauxhall Astra with a houseplant and a grandfather clock strapped to the roof.
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Rejoice! Issue 2 of New Escapologist is now in stock at 
