CLUTTER

As you advance in age, you become more aware of the baggage you carry both physical and psychological. I have recently been reluctantly tackling the mountains of paper records, files and notebooks we have accumulated over the years, reminding me of past follies and unfulfilled dreams. Firmly guided by my practical second son, I have failed to think up plausible answers to his pertinent question: “Why on earth are you keeping this rubbish?” The truth is that these objects are no longer of any practical use and the Athens Recycling Centre has a rich catch to mash up, reconstitute or incinerate and our house can begin to breathe again. I was amazed by how much I could easily toss away.

Creeping Clutter

Yet I can see it is only a start. Despite several past purges, I still have far too many books. I hate dumping books but not all of them are cherished friends. Those others, that I cannot give away, (the market for English books is inevitably tiny here in Athens!) will see their last days in the local rubbish skip. I re-read many books but some are long past their sell-by date and must go. Then there are photographs – I have album upon album – very seldom looked at and a gently pleasant memory only for me and my lovely wife. We will keep some “for auld lang syne” as they say, but they mean nothing to my family, who have their own memories. I need to spend many days with the shredder but once done, walls of shelves will be liberated and musty mementos discarded.

The clutter of too much furniture, too many ornaments and too many accrued gewgaws is a jungle requiring ruthless assault. We get used to our homes having a certain style, but styles date and old favourites may have had their run. We inherit objects from much missed family but retaining Granny’s chair or Father’s desk for eternity is pushing filial reverence too far. As I gaze around me I espy a hideous lamp, a peculiar Greek metal water-jug and elaborate English fire-dogs, pokers and shovels (no open fire now to match) – bric-à-brac for a garage sale or for junk-clearing gypsies. We must have a ton of such stuff. We are not admirers of minimalist decors, we just need fewer possessions, cleaner lines and a more easily kept domain. Hold back the nostalgic tears, we must join the 21^st Century!

Removing physical clutter is a painful process as it inevitably strikes at our memories and at our personalities. Much more difficult is the removal of clutter in man’s mind. Our brains house all manner of notions, opinions and miscellaneous information, some valuable, if a trifle antique, and some outmoded bric-à-brac, ripe for the compost-heap. For example, we no longer subscribe to revealed religion as our forefathers taught us; again, I once admired the dynamic European Economic Community and like many a 1970s Lefty-Liberal supported our membership. I now know all that was a historic mistake. Britain reformed and reinvented itself through its own efforts guided by determined Margaret Thatcher. Many of the lessons were harsh but unavoidable to get the nation under economic control.

The EEC has morphed into the EU and wants to extend its diktat over the whole organisation. My time in Greece has shown me the dire consequences of EU ignorance and pig-headed arrogance, compounded by the incompetence of the local politicians. We need to remove the EU clutter from our lives in Britain – dispense with requiring the agreement of Slovak, Spanish or Austrian politicians to our business – and get off the slippery slope leading to national oblivion before it is too late. We will prosper in our new relationship despite the shameful denigration of his own country by Cameron, the self-serving hand-wringing of big business and the sneers of the Guardian-reading pseudo-intelligentsia.

Olivier as Henry V at Agincourt

I share the British mood of quiet patriotism – perhaps reflected in yesterday’s success by the soldier-conjuror on BGT – ready to turn over a completely fresh Brexit page in our nation’s life. I am not ashamed to cry “God for Harry, England and St George” – not to forget Scotland and St Andrew!

SMD

29.05.16

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2016