Packing

Packing to go on a fortnight vacation is a pretty straight forward thing. Fourteen T-Shirts or vest tops, a pair of swimming shorts, a couple of pairs of shorts, the contents of your underwear drawer, some suntan cream, diarrhoea pills, a jar of paracetamol, a pair of night club trousers and a shirt, condoms and you’re pretty much sorted. A couple of books if you are that way inclined or some personal music device (Walkman/Discman back then) to entertain you. Add in your Passport, Sunnies, Ticket and some spending money and what can possibly go wrong?
Packing to go away for nine months or more is a totally different ball game. There are all those hidden extras you have to remember. Marmite, tea bags, writing materials, and spare guitar strings, a first-aid kit that is a bit more substantial than a box of sticking plasters and a jar of paracetamol. Then you have to make space for more suntan cream, more of everything in fact as you have no idea how long you might be gone for and supply lines to the mother-country might be compromised.
Take condoms as an example. For a two week stay in Spain, there are those who take a packet of three and feel lucky if they get to use them all.  Some of us feel lucky if we get to use one, but that is another story. Then there is the eternal optimist who packs a box of twelve.
So how many does one realistically take for a nine-month stay?
Well in those crazy days before the onset of AIDS it was pretty much up to you. And we will park that subject there.
Another thing to remember on your packing list was a Ghettoblaster. We packed one each. Not because we envisaged arguments over what music we would listen to, or that we thought we would be separating at some point during our stay. Each stereo unit was a sensible investment. You take a player with you, use it for the duration of your stay in Israel and then when the time comes for you to leave you to sell it to one of the kibbutz members at virtually the price you paid for it brand new on Tottenham Court Road.  Don’t ask me why that was the case, but radio cassette players at that time were very expensive to buy in Israel, and even if yours had been well used there would be a string of people queuing up to buy it off you as soon as you announced you were leaving.
Of course, this is not the case if the machine has been completely destroyed in a fire.
(More of that particular event and the fate of the box concerned in due course)

As you were heading for a hot climate a pair of shades and a cool looking sunhat were essential but at the same time, a sweater and some warm socks were also a good idea. Now, these items are not something you would immediately think of when you are visiting a country that is two- thirds desert, but it can get bloody cold and wet there in the winter, particularly at night. A good sleeping bag is also a must.
So like we were taught in the Boy Scouts we laid it all out on our beds took one look at our bags and went straight down the market and bought bigger bags. Chucked all the stuff inside, zipped them up and went down the pub for our last night in civilisation, which if you were familiar with pubs in Stevenage at that time, you would know is a major contradiction in terms.

Next Time – Off to the Airport – The Journey Begins.

This article was originally published on 31/5/2017