When I was packing to move to Auckland, I put some books in boxes to take, and some books in boxes to store away under the stairs. But when we got the van and filled it with boxes to take there was some room left over, so i ended up putting in many of the boxes to store away under the stairs as well. Thus I arrived in Auckland with many books I didn’t, truth be told, need. People looked at me funny when they helped carry them upstairs.
I could have thrown them away, but many of them had belonged to Nicki, and it seemed like they should go to some worthy people who would value and learn from them. Or at least to some people who take out of my hands the decision of which to sell and which to throw away.
And this was, eventually, what happened. This morning a man from Variety came round to take away my spare books for a book sale, where they will surely raise much money for charity. I have space in my wardrobe, and I don’t have to think about destroying books. It’s good to have civilisation, where people do things for you so that you don’t have to think about doing them.