Tidying up

Part of my plan for the school holidays has been to go through the stuff in my office and chuck out anything that I won't need again. I don't know about you, but whenever I have to go through papers and photos, I get sidetracked down various alleys of memory. Some are fun and some are definitely not.

This morning I went through some brochures for language schools in Italy from 1999, when I was thinking of going. I did actually go to one in Florence for 2 weeks, and I really enjoyed that. Most of the other students were American 20 year olds, who were often late owing to a heavy party schedule and its resultant hangovers. Fortunately there was one other mature student, a Swiss woman who was finance director for Levi jeans, and who seemed frequently required to go to places where new factories were being set up. Then it was Russia, but it's probably China or Vietnam now. She had a boyfriend in Switzerland who was a carpenter in a small village. Very Heidi, and I think it unlikely that they are still together.

I found a diary with photos of Tuscany, but it turned out to be the diary of the year I was physically parting from my husband, and there were many entries of weeping and despair, which I really don't need to revisit. But some entries are about my starting in language teaching and meeting people who are now my good friends.

I am in a quandary about the travel brochures, photos and postcards that I inevitably bring back from holidays. I want to keep them, but I can't find a tidy or attractive way to do that. It annoys me that I never know which bag or box or shelf those things are in. I don't want to be so anal that I have them all in alphabetical bankers boxes. They aren't that kind of document.

Good to vacuum up the dead flies from behind the boxes, but only about 20% of the stuff has actually made its way to the garbage!

I had a party on Saturday to celebrate being in NZ for 20 years (that's 10 years married and 10 years divorced). These last couple of years I have had 1 or 2 parties a year, and changed them to be drinks and finger food early. That really works well and I don't find I am clearing up masses of food dishes at 11pm on my own. Instead I have the room reorganised and everything put away well by bedtime, and can start the next day as if it never happened. BUT, and it's a big but, I put away all my stitching and I'm reluctant to start making a mess again!