poliphilo

I cleared out one of the sheds. Then I filled it again- only with different stuff. In between the emptying and the refilling I took its picture. This rough stone floor is 100 years old.

It's an emotional business, having a spring-clean; you keep stumbling over reminders of the past. The things you're being reminded of may have been jolly or not jolly, but either way they're long gone and irrecoverable and therefore make you sad. For instance I found a scrapbook I didn't know I had (I thought Joe had it) full of pictures of the kids at all ages. I got horribly sentimental over that.

My collection of books by G.K Chesterton had been dispersed all over the house. It's a side effect- and a small triumph- of the spring-clean that they're all now back together again. I bought them thirty years ago- one by one from second-hand dealers- and though I later got rid of hundreds of books when money was tight I always held onto these. Time was when I was an acknowledged expert and used to write articles for The Chesterton Review.

There's lots still to do, and the house looks worse than it did yesterday, but now we've started we'll finish. You know what? In a funny sort of way I'm enjoying myself.