Starting Early

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 My primeval nesting urge invariably sets in as the days grow noticeably longer and Spring is in the air. Unusually, and just as the shortest day of the year approaches, I've been hit by a compulsion to declutter. So, totally out of kilter with my normal instinctive behaviour,  I have been dropping goods off at the Charity Shop at the end of the year rather than the beginning. I've also found an outlet that buys old digital cameras (the Charity Shop having refused to accept them in case I might inadvertently have failed to wipe the memory and their contents presumably be distasteful!)

I've disposed too of a significant percentage of my paperback book collection; the part with yellowing loose pages and tiny print in an obscure font with no double line spacing. Horror of horrors, in an epoch where Charity Shops want nearly new goods and these were fit for nothing other than recycling assuming that the paper could be separated from the glue which appeared to be rapidly deteriorating, I threw them into a reprocessing skip at the local tip. Ugh, it didn't feel right but what else can you do when you've hung onto your library for so long that it is decaying?

The weather being milder than of late, I even picked up a paint brush again and yesterday resumed the decorating at our home. Strange times indeed in the run up to Christmas with five guests scheduled to arrive, starting on Friday evening. 

Now I'm not going to panic over my potential lack of preparation for family visitors. Instead, I'm observing with awe the ability to  be driven by impulse. A little like those daffodil bulbs that are already poking their stalks above the ground, it may be premature activity but it is at one with nature. We are told that Christmas is a time for rejoicing and if I can reduce my possessions, even if it means no presents for us under the tree this year, then celebrations are certainly in order! 


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