A sad thing happened a week or so ago, I lost my penknife, which was an eighteenth birthday present from my brother. It looked a bit like the classic Swiss Army soldiers knife, except it had a saw too and once had red enamel sides.
Why is this interesting? So many things these days are disposable or replaceable. I carried the knife everywhere, it was my companion for nearly 14 years. Metal objects gain a personality through use, I don't mean to anthropomorphize it, as that would be foolish, but metal objects are durable, they gain scratches and nicks which tell a story. Mine had seen me through university, many odd jobs, various holidays to places like Chile and France and the US last year. Carefully avoiding getting it taken by airline security and making sure I didn't drop it and then I left it on a ferry from Calais to Dover.
It is only when you do not have something that you notice its absence, several times a day I'll reach for it to open a beer, or cut something or ... I'll get a leatherman to replace it, but it'll take years for it to fully replace the knife I lost, maybe, tell you in six months.
I found a swissarmy knife in paris last week, could it have been yours somehow reappeared across the waters? but my joy was brief; the next day, i lost my dad's camera, a metal object which has been my life's witness for 15 years. i feel your pain my friend. be strong.
I am writing an article about what it feels like to lose things, and am very interested in Gavin's comments. Can I quote you? Tell me more ...
I'm the posterchild of this website. Last year I lost a Lufthansa Airlines international voucher & missed a trip to Milan (found it 8 months later). This year I lost (threw away, I'm convinced) my boyfriend's ticket to Europe (he missed three days of work & had to buy a whole new ticket), I then misplaced my passport (luckily it turned up a month later), & just last night I discovered that I've misplaced/thrown away(??) a few signed & blank checks (complications of this are too complicated for me to go into). Yes. I have a problem & I'm seeking help.