LSW and I spent most of the week clearing and cleaning the Barbican flat ready for ES to move in next weekend.  Fortunately the Barbican Estate has great facilities for re-cycling and waste collection.  With LSW’s eye for de-cluttering and minimalism, we got rid of a huge amount of stuff – from threadbare clothes, to cups that don’t match our Gloucestershire décor, to soil.  The flat has been a rather grubby bolt hole for me to sleep in and to go to work from. Now it is fresh, almost sparkling, and ready to live in properly.

Some things we did will definitely round out the experience of living there. The window boxes – an original and intrinsic part of the overall Barbican design – are now ready for planting. They are on the way to being transformed from the barren dirt bowls that have stared back at me for 18 years. Goodness knows why I didn’t put the effort in to fix them up years ago and then use them for herbs.

It’s the same with storage. It was only this week that we got around to adding decent bedside tables and a chest of drawers instead of living out of a suitcase during the week as I have effectively done for almost two decades.

There are some important, common experiences that have come to me late in life. Constructing furniture from IKEA flat packs is one of them. This is something that, prior to retirement I would have avoided or rushed (and botched as a result). Now I had plenty of time and relaxation to apply to the task, and my first attempt was successful. Admittedly, the bedside table was the simplest item I could have done but it was a start! No worries about me taking up DIY though – the memories of the collapsible shelves I made in our first house in 1986 are still too laughable.

Complete IKEA Bedside Table

IKEA Bedside Table In Progress

I remembered to update LinkedIn with my new retired status this week; I’m cleaning and clearing away the past and moving on…… with flat pack construction my first new skill!