…. is a useful accomplishment in all walks of life. (I’m sure it was one of those celebrated phrases attributed to the actress, addressing the bishop!) I have begun to discover its relevance today. My primary task has been to catch up with preparation for this evening’s Italian language class. This turned out to be a more risky business than anticipated. I did the exercises requested by the teacher (we have to revise the present subjunctive) but found that this task merged by imperceptible gradations into a systematic attempt to find my way around the text book we have been given. This involves understanding a highly complex and by no means transparent relationship between the printed text and a CD of related material.
Before I knew where I was, I was looking through the back-file of instructional material I have accumulated over the past couple of years, and deciding what to junk (nearly al of it) and what to keep. Because the files relating to language study were not actually in the filing cabinet, but on the bookshelves next to the desk, I could hardly avoid noticing that there were several irrationalities in the way things were ordered there. In particular, the space allocated for the storage of foreign language dictionaries and related material was insufficient to our requirements, and ad hoc decisions had been taken at various times to put bits of it elsewhere. Pursuing this problem, eventually I noticed that books relating to wildlife and to gardening were located on an area where there was plenty of surplus space. It seemed that some reordering might be possible.
I think that at this point I was distracted by a coffee break, but thoughts had matured over that time resulting in my drafting, on my return, a general scheme for re-ordering the book collection. I did think about this a little, but decided it was too big a task to take on today. While I was looking at the shelves, however, I became irritated by the fact that there was a stack of pictures and frames in front of one section of them. Clearly something had to be done about this, and I put bubble-wrap around several of them. When I came to restore these to the racks, however, two things became obvious. Firstly, the stacking had not been done very carefully, but also the extension cable which powers the occasional electric heater, and also accommodates the recharging apparatus for bits of electronic gear, was not positioned very sensibly. Without a doubt the efficient thing to do was clear the rack, reposition the electric cable, and then restore everything to the rack in decent and accessible order.
Then followed some respite for lunch. This might conceivably have broken the spell, and indeed, after lunch I did get back to some Italian work. By some dreadful mischance, however, in looking for my handbook of verbs my eye was caught by a press-cutting in which my work had been mentioned. Why not file it properly, while it was in my hand? That drew my attention to the fact that the house-plants on top of the filing cabinet were a disaster area, and that it would probably be a good idea to get rid of a couple of them as surplus to requirements. They were carried into the conservatory to await a more systematic review.
At this point I began to notice that I really ought to start preparation for the class, and got out my brief-case. As it happened, this was lying next to a heap of papers on one of the book-shelves, consisting in large measure of old maps that had been downloaded from the internet to accompany various journeys. These were clearly rubbish. and had to be sorted and chucked out.
My wife has just cone into the studio to offer me a cup of tea (gratefully accepted.) Since this was accompanied clearly by a hint that it would be nice if she could get to the desk, it is obvious that I will have to complete preparation for the Italian class, and go to Leeds. This has to be the point at which I stop.