Compartmentalisation

Men are, apparently, good at this! But this week, I’ve been pretty useless – I only managed to pack 1 box! Anne, on the other hand, managed to pack lots of boxes…I dunno…10, 20, more – a lot, for sure! We’re moving to Glasgow in August, so we have begun filling the end-room, near the front door! I honestly had no idea we had so much ‘stuff’.

Logic tells me that ‘de-cluttering’ is the sensible first step because there are quite a few boxes, which we brought here, that haven’t been opened in a year – So, they need to be checked. Lyall Watson books I bought in 1990 will get donated to the Findoglen bookshelves! But they were part of my re-awakening? They’re Lyall Watson? Bookshelves! Essays from Newbattle Abbey? Burn! Essays from Uni’? Burrrrrrn! (although I might re-read some of them first, which is going to slow the whole process down!) As a digression, I remember before people used ‘Underlay’ (Arriba Arriba! Sorry!) Anyway, before carpet underlay, people used newspaper underneath their carpet – I’m guessing the idea was to stop any draughts coming up from the floorboards. So, in the past, it would take a lot longer to lift an old carpet because you would likely get engrossed in reading things from the old newspapers – Fashionable shoes 2/6d (half-a-crown) or X-Ray Spectacles 3d (3 old pence).

Anyhoo…90% of t-shirts, socks, underwear? Bin! Ties? Bin! In fact, most of my trousers can’t circumnavigate my waist anymore…the buttons are lost at sea/never reach Port and are abandoned 2-nautical inches starboard from my belly-button! Bin! Now I’m beginning to understand why Anne gets more boxes packed than me…because I’m re-discovering aimless-intrigue and re-legging old trousers!!!

So…we are moving from one compartment to another – from the extremely-distanced Findoglen to the socially-distanced, hustle and bustle of Glasgow. We’re re-compartmentalising our existence – swapping beauty and peace to be nearer our sons and swapping bleating lambs, for the sounds of children playing in the street and swapping the roar of the Findoglen burn in spate, for the gentle hum of traffic. We’re swapping the daily curiosity of wildlife behaviour, for the daily intrigue of life in a street. We’re looking forward to it, truly! Another digression though – Do you know how to be happier? Be grateful! If you look at anyone that you think is ‘happy’, you might notice that they are grateful for things (and usually it’s directed by a faith – Feck right off!) However, it’s possible just to be grateful…without referring to any ‘god’. There is a great YouTube channel called Kurzgesagt (which is German for ‘in a nutshell’) which explains the concept much better than my ramblings. Anyhoo…it will be nice to live in a smaller, ‘cosy’ place, with fast internet speed and good tasting tea!