Today, Olivia and I were trying to get the back room sorted out. Olivia was building the newer shelves and then we were trying to fix up some of the older ones. When we stored them we didn’t take the backs off so they buckled and fell away from the nails that held them in place so we were trying to straighten them out as much as possible and re-nail them – one of them somehow has a missing back, so it’s a bit of a botch job, but it should be OK once there are books in them. Books! There are a lot of books, a lot of music books and a lot of fiction. Plus my grandfather’s and my father’s books, it’s a large collection of books as well as records.
We have run out of the tall IKEA shelves (Gnedby) and at this point, I don’t see them at IKEA Portugal in black (plus they are 45 euros each), we need at least ten to get to the end of the alphabet and then there’s the international section, the classical, the singles, the crooners, the jazz. I’m not worrying too much about it – yet. It’s not like there’s not anything else to do…as Sarah is finishing up with the CDs, I’m going to use the spaces between the shelves in that room to put boxes, so I can free up access to the shelves to put LPs away. I have to have that done by Wednesday because that’s when the last load of the collection proper arrives.
It’s been a good time to do this, it just keeps on raining. It’s Easter, shops are closed, weather is terrible, cold and wet, perfect staying in and sorting weather despite it being such a gargantuan task. Once the main collection of LPs, CDs and books are in place then it’s time to start opening a whole lot of smaller boxes, there are a lot of dupes, I’m not sure what condition they are in, but I guess I could start selling them to make some extra spondoolies to buy more shelves.
I’m still sorting out Aunty Gwen’s CDs, she loved the musicals and the tenors as well as the previously mentioned idol winners and the mega-smiling André Rieu. When someone leaves you records or donates records, sometimes it’s something you have but often not – Noel donated records of his and from his friend who had passed, I had some and not others – and then there was Noel’s collection of 12-inch Iron Maiden records, I certainly didn’t have those, collector’s items – thank Noel. Barbara Crane from Leeds just sent me some records as did Susan Myers from North Carolina, thanks both, really appreciate it.
Music today has been Family – Music in a Doll’s House (1968) with this interesting snippet from Wikipedia:
The Beatles had originally intended to use the title A Doll’s House for the double album they were recording during 1968. The release of Family’s similarly titled debut prompted them to adopt the minimalist title The Beatles for what is now commonly referred to as the “White Album” due to its plain white sleeve.