Sunday 17 September 2017

Delete. Delete. Delete.



If anyone wondered where I was,
I have been Kondoing my Inbox.
I had to because my computer said it was full
and could neither absorb nor discharge any further information.

I understood how it felt.

There were 8835 messages there going back eight years.
Of course there must have been many more.
I certainly do delete as I go, but for some reason
these had resisted the routine culling.

It was, and is, a sobering experience. 
All life is there,
from the mundane to the momentous.
There is no easy way to approach this task.
I cannot risk taking out the box wholesale.
I have found some vital documents and some useful contacts.
I have been reminded of happy times and sad.

The computer has dropped a couple of dress sizes
and is feeling more comfortable, but I must press on.
We're aiming for a size 8.
People send funnies, and each of these links was opened and examined.
Mercifully many of them had expired.
Here are a couple that were brought blinking into the spotlight.
You'll notice a common theme:


 Retiree Bathtub Test

During a visit to my doctor, I asked him, 
"How do you determine
whether or not a retiree should be put in an old age home?"


"Well," he said, "we fill up a bathtub, 
then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the retiree 
and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."



"Oh, I understand," I said. "A normal person would use the bucket
 because it is bigger than the spoon or the teacup."
"No", he said. "A normal person would pull the plug out.
Do you want a bed near the window?"

                    




If it goes quiet again, you'll know where to find me.

Also - 32,544 photos.

Delete. Delete. Delete.

11 comments:

  1. I'll need a window bed too, I didn't think of pulling the plug.

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  2. Brilliant. I do love a good declutter. Much to delete around here as well I think! CJ xx

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  3. Apparently one's supposed to do something with Cookies , too ... ?
    You're very brave , anyway . I tend just to wring my hands .

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  4. All of this activity was accompanied by hand wringing and teeth gnashing. I have a cricked neck now. 5977 to go.

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  5. Oh the decision fatigue! I do admire you for going through them all Lucille - I usually hold my breath, select all and press delete, opting for future regret over the hand wringing and teeth gnashing...
    I've moved my entire photo library to a separate hard drive and started a new one on the computer. It felt like the easiest option. It's not quite down to a size 8 but it's been a lot healthier on its elimination diet. I hope you've planned a reward for yourself when you've finished...

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  6. Deleting? Ruthlessly? Aaaaargh!!! This made me wobbly with anxiety! I couldn't do what you are doing..... Googlemail keeps my emails, and I can go back years and years! But photos are another matter - pre-Cloud, mine got into a terrible mess in Picasa, which kept duplicating them, and I can't find them any more; only my first blog keeps some of them safe.

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  7. It is not easy to get rid of stuff is it? I do try to delete as soon as read but then - not always. Good luck.

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  8. I too feel for you. And for me. Which delightful photos of my adored grandchildren should I delete and, more to the point, which should I print? - because I have no faith in computer photos remaining for the succeeding generations, really. I fear they'll die with me. Which of my children will have time to go through my thousandy-thing photos? They have their own thousands...

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  9. Oh thank you - I needed a good laugh Lucille! And well done!

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  10. Emails I can do.
    But the over thirty thousand photos ... good grief ... where to start. But they sit there unseen.

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  11. One day, I will definitely do this (I did make a start recently but gave up in sheer frustration). One day, I will update my blog. One day...

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