There is always so much stuff that one doesn’t know what to do with, yet does not feel able to get rid of.  I’ve got a couple of boxes full and I’ll have to go through them again and make some sort of a storage or filing system.  An affectionate anniversary card from my mother, for instance.  Old school reports of the children and letters from when they were abroad.  An invitation to an Indian wedding, various photos, receipts, valuations – all to be sorted out in future.  At least, nearly everything has been put somewhere, though one final armchair is still a dumping ground.  I’ve let go of so much sentiment but I can’t see any reason to throw it all away, it would feel like a rejection of so much of the past and I don’t want to do that.  I’ve been pleased to find things again that had been stored away for years, in some cases and that seemed enough reason to keep some of them.

Someone I know is doing up an old building and he wanted to buy some oak I’ve got in an outhouse – just a few pieces, so it hasn’t actually cleared a space.  He also rescued an old tin bath from the scrap heap, that I’d thrown away because it had rusted through at the base in several places, but which he wants to use as a planter.  Just as well he came today as my friend who’s clearing it for me came this evening to fill his van with the first lot.  Also just as well, I noticed several angle irons on there and rescued them myself, as they’re useful.  It was raining when he came, so I didn’t go out.  It’s been a cloudy day, mostly, so the tortoises stayed under cover, which does them no harm at all – if they don’t move, they don’t use much energy so don’t really need to eat.

More paperwork tomorrow, but this’ll be current stuff.  I’ll give it two hours and hope to get some useful work done.