I’m brutally clearing out clutter, mainly books. Going by the vague rule that if one doesn’t touch a book in the last year, one will never touch it. Not really.
And I’ve realised that there’s an awful lot of books cluttering up my shelves which were lent to me by others. People lend me books all the time, even when I don’t ask them to. It’s actually going to take a huge amount of time and energy to return them all. I feel like the Gallery on ‘Vision On’ or ‘Take Hart’. “We’re sorry we can’t return your paintings…”
But I’ve lent books out myself, and really don’t care if I don’t get them back. If I miss a book, I have the fun of hunting down a fresh copy. If the book was irreplaceable, I really shouldn’t have lent it out. It’s a kind of statute of limitations. After a year, you should really decide whether you actually want it back or not. I would go further: always assume when lending a book to anyone that you won’t get it back. If that’s a problem, don’t lend it in the first place. Better to give than to lend, if only to keep the amount of stress in the world down. At least with libraries there’s the professional approach. With friends, the lending process can become fraught with guilt and fear of offending.
So, Dear Reader, if you have lent a book to someone over a year ago, I ask you now to consider if you really would like to see it again. If the answer is a resounding yes, get in touch with that person now rather than leave it any later.
Particularly if that person is me. Because I’m throwing things out…
