My mum and Dad both died in 2012. They left a 3-bedroom semi, full to the brim with belongings. I spent much of 2013 clearing the place out, and finally sold up in 2014. The big stuff, the furniture, beds, wardrobes etc., I put into storage where it has remained ever since.

We went up to the storage facility on Monday to sort out, once and for all, the stuff that was valuable to us. There wasn’t a great deal of monetary value in it, both my parents came from very humble backgrounds, and the “valuables” amounted to just 1/4 of all that had been in storage. Even some of that was taking some of my mum’s furniture, with a view to like-for-like replacement of some of our stuff.

Anyway, the storage people put me in touch with a house clearance company, who’ve looked inside the units containing the items I’m letting go of. And they said they’d give me £200 for the lot. I know my mum had some stuff they’ll never be able to sell, I know that the £200 takes account of the costs they’ll incur, but for a couple who lived until roughly 70 each, it’s sad that their worldly goods come down to this.