The two weeks after my birthday were pretty well mapped out with appointments, normal life and creative periods. I am half way through this two week period and it has not panned out at all as I expected. Normal life and creative periods are the soft tissues that are formed around the skeleton of life which is formed by meetings, appointments and essential admin. This two week period would have pottered along  quite nicely. A virus slightly knocked me off the tracks until yesterday and then I was all set to get things done. Almost as the virus  walked out and shut the door a series of phone calls cancelled four appointments that I had scheduled over the next few days. Some will not see the light of day until 2026. With diary gaps I planned other things.  This morning I decided to go for a pedicure and some foot care. My normal place is always buzzing  and I never need an appointment. Except today I did, so it was a very brief visit and I have booked for Saturday.

So instead of pampered feet I decided to move a book case ready for the hallway to be painted.

I knew it was a mammoth task. This bookcase is both a transit hub and a dead end.

There was never a before picture and the picture above is certainly a temporary set up.

A load of random paperwork has gone into recycling and I have a small bag of books for a charity shop.

But what of the bookshelf. So many books I will never read again, some I have never read. 

My mums text books from her sexual health clinic. More than 50 years old they are an amusing and at times uncomfortable read. My dad’s books that carried him through brutal and ineffective chemotherapy . My childhood books and the books belonging to my children. Maybe 20 or so books that will be read again.

So is this a bookshelf or a repository of mine and other peoples memories? I think it is both, and before it moves back to the newly painted hallway I will empty it again to move and paint it so it isn’t quite so shabby. I bet I won’t be able to get rid of any more of these books to a charity shop, but they will be tidier after the next move.