终极“储物狂”理查德·华莱士

by Liz Hayes

Knock on Richard Wallaces front door and youll be shocked—even horrified by whats waiting for you on the other side. His home is so crammed full of rubbish that you have to crawl just to get from room to room. You see Richard is a hoarder—its a 2）bizarre obsession thats shared by millions around the world. But whats truly remarkable about Richard is how he faces his demons with a quiet dignity and a firm belief that life will one day be better.

Richard： Ive never regarded myself as a hoarder. I have always regarded myself as basically a collector who simply has run out of space. But when you start 3）clambering over things， and then you need step ladders to clamber over the pile， then， you know， its pretty obvious that its got out of control.

Richard has long been an enthusiastic collector， but the death of his mother six years ago saw things really get out of control. For all this mess， all the 4）mayhem， Richard and his home offer an intriguing study into the human condition—what both mind and body can tolerate， even normalise.

敲着理查德·华莱士的前门，你会吓一跳——但在门后等着你的一切会让你更加惊恐不安。他的家里堆满了垃圾，你得爬着往返于各个房间。你知道吧，理查德是个“储物癖”——这是一种全球数百万人共有的古怪癖好。但对于理查德来说，其非凡之处在于他面对自己的“心魔”时却表现得泰然自重，并且坚信生活终有一天会变好。

理查德：我从不认为自己是个“储物癖”。我总是觉得自己基本上只是个收集爱好者，只不过把地方都用光了。但当你开始要爬过那些杂物，当你需要用梯子来“翻山越岭”，那你就会明白到，很明显，事情已经失控了。

理查德一直是个狂热的收藏者，但当其母在六年前过世后，情况就真的开始失控了。面对眼前的脏乱不堪，理查德与他的家就人类生存状况问题提供了一个引人入胜的研究个案——身心皆能容忍甚至常态化的程度。

Reporter： Where do you sleep？

Richard： Well， I sort of—in this—well， its a 5）commode actually. Its a chair thats there， so I catnap in that.

Reporter： You sleep sitting up？ Youve been living like that for so long.

Richard： Yeah， well， gradually getting worse and worse and worse， thats right， yeah.

Richard Wallace is one of three million hoarders believed to be living in the U.K.， and millions more around the world. Theyre people communities tend to find difficult to tolerate， often because their habit impacts on others. But resolving hoarding issues is not easy. When Richards mess spilled out of the house， then out of his five garages and into the garden， the polite people of Westcott decided theyd had enough—especially when the annual Tidy Town competition came around. The council took Richard to court to force him to clean up his act， and lost， much to the horror of many locals.

Here in Westcott they decided on a simple solution. They built a fence to block the view. Up went the great wall of Richard， and in the process， so began a surprising relationship between this hoarder 6）extraordinaire and the local gardener， Andy Honey， who was brought in to build the fence.

记者：你睡在哪儿？

理查德：嗯，我基本上——在这儿——嗯，这其实是个洗脸台。是那里的一张椅子，我就坐在那儿小睡一下。

记者：你坐着睡？你这样生活了那么长的时间啊。

理查德：是的，慢慢就变得越来越糟糕了，对的，嗯。

据称，在英国生活的“储物癖”有三百万人，全球范围内的人数则更要多出好几百万，而理查德·华莱士就是其中之一。这部分人常常因为他们的习惯对他人造成困扰而使得社区对他们难以容忍。但解决囤积问题并非易事。当理查德的杂物堆散到屋外，接着堆到他的五个车库外面，然后散落到花园时，韦斯科特那些守礼的居民觉得他们受够了——特别是当一年一度的“整洁小镇”评比就要展开的时候。……