Recently I have been contemplating the prospect of tackling a spring-cleaning session in the magic realm known as The Landing. Note, that I used the word contemplating which could suggest that my approach to cleaning is thoughtful and measured. It also quite plainly tells you that I’m procrastinating on the shelf cleaning front. Every time that I pass the shelves on my way either up or down the stairs, I sigh and say to myself, ‘I really must clean those shelves’ or ‘Look at those cobwebs’ or similar such sentiments. But has it done any good at all? The answer is no, it has done not one scrap of good. The dusty tomes of the TBR Pile on the bookcases still cry out for a little TLC (applied with a duster).
Starting at the bottom
However, the time has come to gird my loins and fetch out the Mr Sheen in the interests of maintaining housekeeping standards on The Landing. Lovingly dusted and arranged on equally dust free shelves is no less than my books deserve. It’s just that I do wish modern science had managed to discover a method of banishing dust once and for all. No sooner do I finish cleaning all of the shelves in the house with their resident books then it’s time to start over. The literary equivalent of painting the Forth Bridge (I know that is really just an urban myth but as a child I used to believe it) goes on relentlessly.
The real problem with dusting bookshelves is, as you might have guessed that as I remove books from the shelves I get distracted. Very distracted…. I know that I began this blog to chart my voyage around the uncharted Landing territory (see The Prologue) but I do need to separate cleaning time from reading time. All too often I’ve found myself sitting on the stairs, duster in one hand and book in the other as I browse. This slows the spring/autumn/whenever cleaning down considerably. This inevitably exacerbates the Forth Bridge impression. And that’s before I get to tackle the bookshelves that don’t fall under The Landing project’s range.
Having said all of that, perhaps a good cleaning session will be the perfect way to decide what to cover on the blog in the next month or so. Rather like shops having a clear out that result in a summer sale, perhaps I should have a summer read as a by-product of my clear out. I’ll venture upstairs, with cloth and furniture polish in hand and see what turns up. Who knows what long forgotten novel might be awaiting my attention? Whether my browsing (sorry, I meant cleaning) will reveal another Landing Eight remains to be seen.
Perhaps I might aim for a more modest ‘Spring Cleaning Four’ ? I’ll be back in due course, armed with the spoils of dusting…
