Last week was earmarked for more clearing out in Dad’s house, with the invaluable services of Eli and his team. They arrived on Thursday, ready to start work, but not before Dad had already done a week’s sorting out of his own. Phrases like ‘got the bit between his teeth’ sprang readily to mind!
In fact, Dad has really embraced the idea of clearing out what he doesn’t need and moving on with what he does, and this flexibilty of outlook has helped considerably to lighten a task which could have been overwhelming to say the least. A lot of the sorting out has been somewhat emotional and sparked all kinds of memories, of course, but I think we have done a good job of keeping what should be kept and removing what could be done without. It’s easy to get bogged down by the assumed importance of ‘things’ when in fact, it is the memories relating to them which are important, stored safely in our memories.
The smallest bedroom, long ago converted into a study, was earmarked by Eli as being probably the most difficult prospect, filled as it was with mountains of books, files, paperwork and various other forgotten odds and ends and, probably for that reason, it was left to the end, so this was the room that we mainly tackled on this, the last of our marathon clearing out sessions. In fact, it proved not quite as daunting as we had feared. A lot of the paperwork and files related to Dad’s work before his retirement and was now mostly out of date and certainly no longer needed by him, so this was quickly disposed of. Of the books, about half were kept and the rest were taken away. Dad is a published author and much of the material he has kept is going to be relevant to his next book.
So, by the end of this third session, we were now in the happy situation of being left only with what will be moving up here with him. Downsizing from an inter-war three bedroomed semi to a small, modern, two-bedroomed semi seemed like an impossible task before we started but happlly, it’s not.
Onwards and upwards…!
13 comments:
Nightmare!
Yes, but it has gone a lot better than I thought it would, Cro.
It sounds like you're making better progress than expected, which must be a relief. Flighty xx
Yes, thanks, Flighty
You write incredibly positively about this 'upheaval'. It's really good when the person at the centre of it - dad- is able to dive in the deep end and deal with the displacement in a very constructive way.
I'll have to get your dad to motivate me to squash the bulk in some of my files. I did one today, one that I have been putting off for much longer than I care to admit.
Unpacking should not be such a trial now, it will just be needing a bit of energy, deciding where to put things and time.
I must confess, ZACL, I was concerned about whether all this would be too much for him and I have been relieved at his positive attitude. He seems to have re-discovered his energy, possibly because now he has something to look forward to and he knows that life will be more interesting and 'sociable' up here. Let's hope all continues to run smoothly! ;)
The snippet that mostly interested me in this blogpost was that your father is a published author and is planning another book. Marvellous! What are his most noteworthy titles?
Many digits crossed...amen to that!
I'm with YP. I'll bet your old dad is an interesting guy.
Only one, YP, 'Life in a loco works' - about the railway in Crewe. He has also had lots of articles published in Steam magazines, worked on restoring an engine in Minehead and was also involved in the centenary of the 'Lion' when it was on show in Liverpool, where he met the queen on her visit to see it. He's a freeman of London as well.
Indeed, Dale. (See above!) ;)
God bless your dad, Jenny, and God bless the internet as well. I've just been to The Museum of Liverpool to see Lion and to learn about her fascinating history. Wikipedia then offered me a lovely tour around Minehead and Somerset. I've also learned that if your dad is ever hanged, as a freeman, he's entitled to a silk rope. Lucky sod.
That's interesting, Dale. I only knew that he is entitled to drive his sheep over London Bridge, which could be very useful if he doesn't want to go the long way round. ;)
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