Dematerialising

Over the course of the weekend we’ve finished emptying my study, getting it ready for its fireplace to be taken out tomorrow and the hole plastered over. The books came out a week ago, into new bookcases along the hall; yesterday all the other loose stuff went into boxes to stash away for the time being. Then came the desk, a 1970s giant which we had carried in there on its end from the box-room it occupied when we moved in. I wasn’t sure we’d get it down the hall now that the bookcases are there (possibly not the best planning, that), but fortunately the top screwed off and we could bring it through in pieces. This morning the last major piece of furniture, the filing cabinet, followed it. Now our lounge looks like the corner of my study has materialised in it, like an office TARDIS. Except instead of being surrounded by Daleks, it’s landed next to a curious toddler who wants to grab everything in arm’s reach.

And that’s how it will have to stay until it rematerialises upstairs, in the attic we’ve been trying to get converted all year. Given the delays we’ve experienced, moving it here is a hopeful act, the hope being that it’s temporary and not permanent. But getting the room ready for the kids is the first step in shuffling stuff from room to room to make it all happen.

So this afternoon and this evening the bookshelves came off the walls, the curtains came down, and the old grey carpet and underlay came up. Underneath are floorboards spattered with paint from years ago. The room is so empty that the slightest footstep sounds echoey. But that’ll be nothing compared with two blokes with sledgehammers knocking bricks out of the wall.

9 September 2012 · Journal

Added by Rory on 11 September 2012.