by Debbie

Dabelle told me that she and her team had something different in mind for “A” (abseiling) but when I started a long ignored task today, she decided it was much more exciting than what they’d planned. Plus it’s a good lock down story to boot! Dabelle and I will be sharing the story telling over this month. But this is my story to tell today.

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You know how sometimes you have something on your to-do list for years? This one has been on my list since about 2017, I guess. I had every intention of doing it before I left South Africa. But until today, it was still undone. And, still on the long-term to-do list.

I got it into my head this morning that I want to live a simpler life. To do that:
I. HAVE. TO. DECLUTTER. MORE. AND. MORE.

I have an enormous box of heavy photo albums taking up space in my spare bedroom. The box gets in my way and I am frustrated every time I open it. I have been lugging these things around with me for decades and I cannot remember the last time I actually looked at any of the photos. My plan – to scan the photos in the 16 ancient albums. And I mean ancient – the pages are yellowed, ultra sticky, the edges held down with sellotape or even black electrical tape. And let’s not talk about the quality of the photos – most of them are terrible! As a photographer, it breaks my heart to see the poor composition, the faded colours and the tiny specks who are people!

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What better time to do this, than now, during lock down when time is available in abundance? When I wake up every day wondering how I am going to pass the time? The perfect time!

It is Album Abolition time!

With ruthless single-mindedness, I have pulled out and where necessary cut photos out of the gummy, tacky pages. Ones where I can see people more or less clearly and which mean something years later. The ones that haven’t passed muster have been left in the albums to be ditched when I can get out to the dump when lock down is over (if that ever happens!) In a matter of hours, the pile of albums has rapidly grown bigger and bigger. What a satisfying feeling! Woohoo.

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That’s where The Lock Down Team come in

As I piled them up, Dabelle talked excitedly about the old smells, the shapes, textures and crevices to explore and pretty soon, she, Larry and Mini Super-girl got to work on investigating what she called “these ancient relics“.

Larry’s climbing axe and rope were useful for scouting out the long dark corridors of spiral binding. Dabelle’ magnifying glass accentuated the corners and edges of the aging pages and covers. Mini Super Girl stood guard, trying to look scary, brandishing her weapons – it is what she does best. On a side note, I’m not 100% sure what she is protecting them from. Perhaps she thinks there are scary creatures hiding in the ancient relics? Skeleton Man was nowhere to be seen – perhaps he was still asleep in the sun?

Day One adventure complete!

Remember to keep a look out for Dabelle’s wigs and other costume changes during the challenge!

If you are on Instagram, you can follow these hashtags:

#dibzzenAtoZChallenge⠀
#DibzZenA2Z2020

2020 A to Z Challenge posts

Pre-challenge

• Deciding to do the 2020 challenge
• The A to Z Team arrive
• Some last minute planning
• Get your skates on – the A to Z Challenge is coming

A to Z posts