PART TWO. MOVING A WRITER'S OFFICE AROUND.

Grand schemes. The movement of books on shelves. I can handle this. Can't I? My work was done...
   But, standing in a dismantled office, I knew that wasn't the case. In the cold light of what passes for day, in my heart of hearts, I sensed bitter inevitability.
   I had to dismantle my desk.
   There are three desks. One in my library. Two in the office. The old desk had to go. It propped up books. A bookcase would prop up more. Lose the desk and make space for? Two bookcases. Maybe three.
   With that heavy heart, I dismantled the old desk and stored it behind, er, my desk. I can't store the old desk anywhere else - there isn't room to get the main plank into the loft without injury to the loft.
   This isn't about cramming more books in. It's about change. Updating the office. Arranging cables. Having certain grindy-grindy machines to hand.
   I've yet to lose fingers in the shredder.
   Has the main change to the library worked? Yes.
   And the office? I started with one bookcase stacked in front of another. Any improvement? Yes. I now have two half-bookcases stacked in front of two full bookcases.
   That's progress.

*

How is the office now? In bits. Getting there. Moved stuff around a little more. Fixed unspecified things. The printer is back in the office. It fits there perfectly.
   PERFECTLY.
   I may ditch it and buy a new one.
   Not that I print much these days, except essential government files which the government does not see fit to set up for electronic processing - even though I can electronically download and print said files.
   Abed, thinking problems solved, I sensed something. What else, but a falling book...
   Technically, a landing book.
   The library layout is fine. And the office layout is almost there. I have an empty wall to fill, one day, with more books. How long will that take?
   Well, I am going to squeeze a lot more use out of my library and see how many books I can fit in there. Then I'll start worrying about the office.
   I did a world of measuring, just to drag one bookcase from office to library. But that was well worth the effort, for my office now has free space.
   And if I ever have to reconstitute that desk, the old faithful, why, I can.

*

Late arrival of a book caused problems. To fit that book on THAT shelf, those two books must leave the library and travel to the office. There, THOSE massive volumes must make way for the transported books.
   The only place for the massive volumes is, well, back in the library. And so it goes. The recycling of space. A dwindling resource. Solution?
   Embrace the digital archive. Switch from analogue reading machines to digital ones. I look left. There's the Kindle, sitting atop some old-fashioned paper reading devices.
   My library shelves are now officially full.
   I'm forced to think of things that are on order. How many books are still swirling in that system? Probably around half a dozen. There's room in the office, now. For now.