John Barnard is fully aware of his obsession.
“I have an illness: I collect,” he conceded.
The Rynfield resident has, at times, had to be sly to keep his compulsion for collecting miniaturised trees from his wife, Lulu.
“I am quite good at smuggling stuff in, you know,” he said.
“It’s an art I’ve developed over the years.
He said he would perform his tricks when his wife was at Bingo.
“So she’d play Bingo on a Saturday and I’d be at the bonsai club on a Saturday,” he said.
“I told the guys I had to leave early if I wanted to get home before Lulu got home from Bingo, so it was a race to get home before her.”
John would make sure he snuck in a few trees to add to his collection.
Apart from the trees that provide a solace from a busy work schedule in sales at South African Airways (SAA), he enjoys listening to and collecting music and adding to his stamp collection.
John’s obsession with collecting items started as a child, when he collected birds’ eggs, rocks and anything he could lay his hands on.
He was an avid collector of vinyls, but has since sold his collection.
John resisted collecting CDs when they hit the market and it took him 10 years before he purchased his first CD.
He has not looked back since.
He collects a wide variety of music, with his collection including a Goldfish album.
He has been obsessed for years with locating Paola Neri’s song, I Will Follow Him.
He has yet to track it down, although he has the song in his email, which his son, Zane, sent to him.
Downloading will just not cut it in John’s collection; he wants the original version.
John’s stamp collection is mostly from Southern Africa countries, several central African countries and Great Britain.
At the top of his collections are his trees, as they require constant attention.
He admits to having too many trees, but said he will keep around 200 when he retires in about 20 months time – something about which he is very excited.
“I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it; there might come a day when I’m old and in a wheelchair and have five or 10 trees, but I’ll always have a tree,” said John.
“Id’ climb walls if I didn’t have these trees.
“I just need more time with them.”
According to his wife, John’s collecting sometimes drives her up the wall, as he goes overboard.
“Sometimes it bugs me, because he collects too much then he doesn’t have time for anything else, but I prefer him collecting, because then he is always busy,” said Lulu.
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