100 Things We Lost In The Fire

Photo by Gabriela Palai for Pexels

1. My teenage diaries.
2. A battered copy (on loan) of Mrs Beeton.
3. Those really good cooking tongs.
4. A signed film poster of ‘The English Patient’.
5. Your Duke of Edinburgh gold and my bronze.
6. Our photograph album.
7. My cashmere pashmina.
8. My beanie babies collection.
9. A set list from the Pixies ‘Doolittle’ tour.
10. Our love letters from when you were working away.
11. The vinyl has all gone.
12. Tickets stubs from the final at Wembley.
13. Your wedding suit.
14. A box of phones with photos still on them.
15. Our hiking kit.
16. A flowerpress full of my childhood.
17. Shoes that we never wore.
18. Books. So many books.
19. A Metrocard from our last NYC trip.
20. A lock of her hair.
21. A fridge freezer full of food from yesterday’s big shop.
22. The 55″ big screen.
23. My work laptop.
24. The milk jug shaped like a cow.
25. My Jo Malone that I was saving for best.
26. The fancy shampoo.
27. My slippers.
28. Passports.
29. Exam certificates.
30. Birth certificates.
31. Wedding certificate.
32. Driving licence.
33. The envelope of expense receipts.
34. The warranties.
35. The vintage handkerchiefs that I loved.
36. Our really comfortable bed.
37. My Mulberry handbag.
38. Your IWC watch.
39. My Tiffany ring.
40. That vintage Welsh wool blanket.
41. Our electric toothbrushes.
42. The tickets for that concert next month. Can we still go?
43. A vase full of small change.
44. Those mid-century modern dining room chairs.
45. The library books.
46. That really useful travel bag.
47. £400 cash for emergencies.
48. The well-stocked cocktail trolley.
49. The college notes.
50. The chargers for the phone.
51. That print by that artist from before he was famous.
52. The spoon you always ate ice-cream with.
53. The stained glass lamp from that auction.
54. A box of photographs.
55. The armchair that we just had re-covered.
56. Your cacti that you were growing for 10 years.
57. My capsule wardrobe.
58. The mix-tapes.
59. A patchwork quilt made by my aunt.
60. My mother’s engagement ring.
61. My father’s medals.
62. Your favourite jeans imported from Japan.
63. The little book of internet passwords.
64. Those rare trainers that you queued up for hours to get.
65. $5 Poker chips from the Las Vegas honeymoon.
66. Those kitschy seaside ornaments.
67. The best frying pan ever.
68. The hand-made carved, wooden fruit bowl.
69. The sofa we saved a year for.
70. The shoe lasts of your grandad’s feet.
71. The rug we brought home from Morocco.
72. All our clothes except the ones we had on.
73. My work-in-progress notebook.
74. Your tools.
75. That paint we had mixed for the hallway.
76. The Christmas presents we bought in advance.
77. The cat.
78. Half a dozen steaks in the freezer.
79. My desk.
80. The framed review of your sister’s book.
81. The softest, worn Irish linen sheets.
82. Those two wine glasses from the 1920s.
83. My make-up.
84. The signed Neil Gaiman that we found in the airport bookshop.
85. The vodka from our Iceland holiday that we were saving.
86. The Polish glass turquoise vase from my childhood.
87. The history of our old lives.
88. Our obsession with collecting.
89. Our sense of security.
90. The ability to sleep.
91. The reluctance to show emotion in public.
92. My materialism.
93. Your complacency.
94. Our entitlement.
95. Our privacy.
96. Our future plans.
97. Our attachments to ‘stuff’.
98. Our fear.
99. Our pride.
100. Everything that wasn’t saved in the cloud.