Day 5
Toured the new extension today.

It's still a building site so hard hats, boots and a bright vest were provided. With the sun out and the smell of freshly sawn timber in the air, the half dozen or so on our tour seemed almost celebratory as we saw how close to finishing it was. They're still talking about October 9th as a handover date but privately we heard how they'd be up against a week later and were more realistically looking at two weeks after that. Still lots of discussion about what and how we're going to induct new students.

Not having had too many opportunities to walk around building sites of this complexity, it was of course a fascinating chance to see how parts of the structure you never normally get to see all go together. And the logistics of getting the right things (plumbing, electricity etc) put in at the right time in the right way across such a project must be something marvellous to behold.

But as well as you could imagine (as we picked our way between glaziers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, foremen and all their assorted tools and materials) was that the place was going to be tremendously inviting to students. Big IT centre, classrooms to one side, a cafe, large areas for loans, short loans and other libraryish paraphanalia. The double height 2nd floor was light and airy. I've no doubt there will be problems - modern architecture often leaves a lot to be desired - just take TheOldPlace for example which is only a little over a decade old. But we'll see.

One of the things, of course, that made it seem spacious was the absence of (library) clutter. OK, so the old part of the library is a little higgledypiggley until the extension is opened but still, there's the detritus of years of working that have accumulated about the place. Anywhere's the same.

It's something I've really enjoyed about my first week. The office space may be small but there's nothing in it. Nothing piled up demanding my attention, nothing electronic at the back of mind knowing it probably ought to be done but not very urgent. A clean blank slate to write on. Mentally that's a marvellous release. It's a good reminder that I must find someway of reducing, minimising and not letting stuff accumulate in the first place. Difficult for my temperament, but I really need to give it a go.

Learn to let go.