Boxes, boxes everywhere

[mandragora]

Finally I've got round to getting the stuff that was put into storage when I went to Gibraltar for a couple of years. I've only been back for...::winces:: two years now, so am demonstrating stunning efficiency.

Thing is, I didn't actually know what was in the boxes - I got my parents to pack everything that was in the spare bedroom up for me while I was actually in Gib and after I'd made the decision to rent out my place to someone I trusted ::waves to Temaris::.

It turned out to be an interesting exercise. There were about 20 boxes or so in storage. Of those, 2 or 3 were stuffed full of papers. The other boxes were filled with books. Lots and lots of books. I have so many books (I calculate that I've got between 3-4,000 scattered at various places, including my place and assorted relatives) that I simply do not have enough room for them. Despite some artful whining my long suffering relatives have all flatly refused to house any more of them. Sigh.

So, I have to get rid of some of them. Which is really, really hard. However, I have now sorted them into a pile to keep and a pile to go. I haven't yet decided which charity will benefit from the receipt of them, but am veering towards whichever one will come and collect. My back hurts from loading and unloading the car today with the stuff I've taken out of storage and I really don't fancy loading and unloading the car with six large boxes full of books, trying to find somewhere to park that won't attract a parking ticket (almost impossible) and laboriously staggering into one of the local charity shops with one box at a time.

But it's no surprise that the final count is six boxes to charity compared with ten boxes to keep. Now all I have to do is get them into the loft...

Comments

Re: Books...

[alsoa.livejournal.com]

It's not good for authors but...really, charity shop books are much more interesting than new ones. There's a strange sense of knowing the previous owner - the inscriptions on the flyleaf, the folded corner where reading stopped for the night or when the station stop approached, the broken covers at favourite passages. And they're cheap too! I have been known to dip into romances and my complete collection of Goergette Heyer occupies an entire shelf on the bookcase.

Re: Books...

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Oh well, Georgette Heyer is worth reading - I've got all of her books and they were not among the ones I gave away. Don't think any of the ones I donated come up to Georgette Heyer's standard.

In your honour, A, I gave them all to Oxfam, who did seem to be grateful, commenting in what good shape the books were etc. I also gave them a hideous framed picture of a rose. I have no idea where it came from, but found it in one of the boxes. Proving conclusively that there's nowt so queer as folk, the Oxfam people told me that they were going to put it in the window and could guarantee that it would sell that day. Yikes - it was truly awful.

Re: Books...

[alsoa.livejournal.com]

I trust the rose pic was velvet...