After a good sermon, good sung eucharist (well sung though I say it myself) returned home initially glad to be out of the cold strong wind and sitting with coffee and feet up.
That lasted all of 20 minutes and the next thought was what next? Gardening? too cold and much too windy.
Housework? No it's Sunday, not today. Decluttering? Yes well it is going to take years and I've barely begun.
As previously posted, hundreds of photos going back 40 years have already bitten the dust. Today they were joined by roughly another 300. The bin is now half-full of palaces, castles, statues, views over rivers from all parts of Europe. Some of them really rather good pictures but in the main, no longer identifiable.
Why oh why was all that time occupied photographing buildings which have been photo'd by half the world and reproduced in magazines, books, catalogues and holiday brochures for donkeys' years?
Are we really so arrogant as to believe our version to be so much better than all the others or just too unimaginative to seek out things no-one else has bothered to photograph?
Having said before that few of ours (John's and mine) had people in them it seems peculiarly pointless to keep them now. I did have for many years a 'thing' about rooftops and gables, and since we spent a lot of time in the Netherlands and Flanders there was quite a lot of fuelfor my obssession.
Today having seen at least seventy Dutch gables, Bruges rooftops and Copenhagen 'red' houses I thought how totally meaningless even the very best of these seem viewed at a distance of some years. There is no-one to share them with, no-one to discuss which or where this or that one might have been, and no reason on earth that I can see why they were taken in the first place.
Surprisingly, despite having spent 4 hours on the task, and having half a bin-load almost no difference seems to have been made to the vast gallery of photos occupying the office.
Decluttering in theory clears space ( for what, remains to be seen), yet there doesn't appear to be any more room now than when I began.
Can't think what to tackle next. Ideas welcome, though not necessarily acted on.
Oh dear I read your labels too quickly and read the first one as bin-larden :0 and it got me all 'confused like' lol
ReplyDeleteI went into our garage this afternoon to start decluttering and walked straight back out again - didn't know where to start!! cup of tea was a better option so I'm not much help I'm afraid...
Poor Ray, it must be hard going through quite so much stuff and wondering how you came to have it all. I think we take photos to prove we've been somewhere or to help fix the memory in our minds. At least with digital photos we can delete vast swathes at the click of a mouse instead of having to fill the bin with them. If it's any help the weather is supposed to warm up as the week goes on, which will let you get outside if you want to.
ReplyDeleteJudy I do have to agree, on this occasion you really are not much help. Never mind I like hearing from you.
ReplyDeletePerpetua I am just starting to use a digital camera for the very first time, so we'll see.
As to the gardening, if the wind keeps going at this force much longer, there'll be nothing left to garden.
Sundays after church can be an absolute bore. I agree. A man of your talents must be needed at some charitable organisation. People who do it seem to love it and the space that it fills in their lives. All the best Ray.
ReplyDeleteJane
ReplyDeleteHate to shatter your illusions but the last time I looked I was a woman and have been all my long life.
As for yet more charitable work sorry, I'm all charitied out!