Window Shopping

Thanks for all the great commentary on yesterday's blip. It certainly helped to know I'm not the only one in this position. If it was a matter of simply throwing everything away then it would be easy, but I deplore waste and I have real trouble just dumping something which someone could possibly use. And there is the also the stuff of memories. Not much really falls into this category, but the odd momento can be very special and whenever you cast away a box of old papers there is always that nagging worry that you might be losing something precious.

An example. I was about to throw away a box full of the boys' schoolwork. They felt no inclination to go through it. At the last moment I decided to sift through to check and found a couple of priceless end of term report cards. I think a lot of my stress and general fuzziness yesterday was around looking for those few needles in the proverbial haystack of clutter. I want to free myself from this huge amount of detritus but I don't want to lose the physical record of certain moments and periods of my life. I guess, ideally, I'd like to condense it all down to a single box. I'd love myself to chance upon such a treasure chest from the life of one of my ancestors but I'm not sure if my descendants would have so much interest. I guess none of us want to think that we'll leave this world without any kind of physical trace. The truth is though that the real trace we leave is less tangible but far deeper than any archival record, continued on through all the people we have met in our life, whether that be people we've inspired or loved or simply influenced as a result of a chance encounter. The physical stuff is ultimately quite meaningless.

The forecast was for snow but all we've had is sleet and rain all day. It's really been the most vile weather imaginable to do anything outside. I popped out to get some milk and took a few shots in town to try to capture the mood of the day. One of the great things about Street Photography is the surprises you get when you come to look at your photos properly. I took this shot quickly, thinking the umbrellas made for a good composition, and had not noticed the woman at all. Honestly! I have no idea whether she was posing for the camera or not but she certainly makes the shot. Perhaps she's hoping that her man has spotted something in the window that she wanted - to clutter up her own house!