Will Roberts
As a child I always missed out on the crazes. When I got my first shell suit people were into Kickers. I finally got a Gameboy when people had moved on to Playstations. So I’m over the moon to be finally up to date by having my own blog.
The eBay project
A story in the Echo got me thinking the other week. It was the one about Ian Usher, from Darlington, who wanted to sell his entire life on eBay.
Now, to say it inspired me to sell my life would be way off the mark. For a start, there wouldn't be too many people interested in bidding on a student loan debt, a house in serious need of some TLC and a Fiat Punto with a chronic health problem.
Plus, I'm not sure what my girlfriend would think if she woke up one morning to find I had been replaced by Geoff from Taunton'.
But the story did coincide with a time when my parents, keen to clear out all of the clutter in their newly decorated house, were coming round weekly with bags full of junk from my past.
The problem is, my parents' house is much bigger than mine, with more space to hide the sort of rubbish you can never be bothered to sort through. Something had to give.
I've already given a lot of my clothes the charity shop, but I'm still left with mounds of junk. There's lots of old birthday gifts I've never used, still in boxes, waiting for some attention.
So I've decided to sell as much of it as I can on eBay. The plan is to sell enough of my junk to raise enough money to buy something, off eBay, for my house.
I started the other week with my first three items from the past.
The first was a drinking game called Slurp which I've never used or ever will. I've never been a fan of drinking games, especially when they involve a rule book. With no reserve, I thought the game was bound to get snapped up by a student somewhere. After 10 days - nothing. So it's up for auction again.
My second item was an unwanted gift from about four years ago, when I was living in Taiwan, working as teacher. As a leaving present, bizarrely one of my students gave me a hell's angel-style belt buckle, which has remained in its box ever since I smiled nicely at my student and said thank you. Again, with no reserve, this lot went for £3.01. The money had started rolling in.
My third item of the week was the biggest surprise. I can't remember why, but when I was a child I collected limited edition sweet wrappers. The kind that manufacturers produce, everyone tries and subsequently dislikes, so the manufacturer stops producing. I had racked up more than 65 wrappers over the years (not all the chocolate was eaten by me I hasten to add) the most bizarre of which was a Drifter with a splash of bubbly'.
I whacked the lot on eBay not expecting anyone to look twice at them, but after a bidding war between two collectors, they finally went for about 12 quid. Not bad at all.
So, after the eBay fees were taken out, I've made £14.58 selling my junk so far. This week the drinking game goes back on sale along with my old yellow Gameboy. Watch this space.
5:01pm Thursday 24th April 2008
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