I haven't been tagged in this game but I thought an office recce with a view to an early spring clean would be a good idea before the New Year is out.
Like Leg Iron over at Underdogs Bite Upwards I won't post a photo of it because it looks like the aftermath of a Tsunami.
I think Dick Puddlecote started it off and it got me thinking that my desk does need sorting out. I've barely been in my office lately as I've filed stories on the move from my lap top and I've worked in other offices away from home.
After the holiday I'll have loads of marking to do. I'll be using my office more and when it's tidy I will find my mind feels clearer. I wonder if that's something to do with that Chinese Feng shui thingy.
The first thing I see every time I walk in the office is the brown envelope on top of my huge office sized desk which I bought from a YMCA charity shop in 1994.
The envelope contains all the submissions for a newsletter that's on deadline by the end of next week. Under that sits a couple of old court lists and scraps of paper with scribbled short hand notes on them. That's all balanced on top of an old notepad that needs to be "filed" with those in the pile on the office windowsill. I have to keep them for five years for legal reasons.
The desk does have an "in" and "out" tray which is generally used as a paperwork dumping ground for stuff I no longer need but cling on to. I am a bit of a hoarder.
The tray is currently filled with a pack of file dividers which I bought but never got round to using, draft pages from old finished screenplays and stories, academic essays, and several hard-backed small notebooks containing several random ideas.
My keyboard sits on an old (and rather tatty) leather writing pad that was left in our old house by the previous elderly tenant. The house became vacant when she died. I guess whoever cleared it out didn't want that so I claimed it.
The working area around my keyboard is quite clear and has a copy of last week's Skegness Standard on it, two pens and one pencil, a highlighter and a stapler, one page of a work contract, and an empty Post Office travel money wallet now empty of my Czech Korunas.
A Flyer advertising the Jolly Brewer's Christmas panto waits to be blogged about but I guess it's a bit late now. I really wanted to take granddaughter No 1 but I got a stinking cold and so we didn't make it. Hopefully next year.
A UKIP newsletter, more draft fiction pages, an unopened Bulletin From Brussels newsletter, and another hardback notebook with random fiction ideas scribbled inside, balance on top of my hard drive.
On the windowsill the pile of notebooks wait to be filed in the box under the desk. There's an old photo of me, my mum and my sister next to that and bizarrely an old ornament of the Last Supper which I bought from a tourist stall near the leaning Tower of Pisa in 1982.
All I need now is a couple of black bin liners and Pledge and it'll be full steam ahead. I'll start the new year afresh.
I thought about writing an end of year review before I get started on this office clear out but then anyone interested in past rantings at contemporary times can just check out my archive on the left.
Meanwhile, Happy New Year to you all. I hope it's a gud 'un.