De-cluttering

It has often been observed that the more space you have, the more you find to fill it. ThisOldHouse is a culprit. But as it will soon be Spring (we hope fervently!), a start was made to an overdue clear out. The process of renovation here continues slowly (very slowly). The next room to be tackled is to be a bedroom but it is difficult to get past the door as the room is full of mostly superfluous stuff. It was used as a home office up to a couple of years ago, since when it has become little more than a glory hole. It is filled with a massive desk, a tower PC, numerous old files, books, course notes, cuttings, boxes of photographs and slides, the remnants of an old hi-fi system and other no longer required bits of furniture. It all needs to go!

So, today the rear seats of the car were removed to accommodate an old beech kitchen table, oak dressing table, 2 chairs, 2 brass jelly pans, an antique salad tureen (complete with spoons), wood and brass bookends, an oil lamp with spare glass, an old slide projector (wrapped in a 1975 newspaper) and an ancient wooden urn. The most extraordinary thing was how it all fitted into the car en route to the local auctioneer for recycling.

Clinging to the underside of the table we discovered a hibernating butterfly which came to life as it accompanied us on the journey, fluttering against the rear window. It escaped on our return and we pity its prospects as by then it had started to snow and the temperature had dipped to 1C.