Carpe diem ? Pah !

Weird, I know, but Latin does something for me. Martial is one of my favourite poets, and he had an abiding obsession about living the day fully. He reworked Horace's idea of Carpe diem (seize the day) over and over, giving it new expression in many different guises. I think the urgency and brevity of life really drove Martial. He was just hungry for living, and for all that life could give him.

I liked one of his lines so much that I carved it on a stele outside my kitchen window:

"Live today" it says. The sides you can't see say "Living tomorrow is too late...."

This idea drives me too, and packing things in is what I try to do each day. Sitting around isn't for me.

And yet.

It's spring, and at this time of year, I get the yen to fix my shed. Rebuild it, replace it, re-roof it, start again, tweak it. And every year I am surprised to find a sheaf of similar plans going back year after relentless year. And the shed ? It must laugh hollowly in a sheddy sort of way.

Here it is, along with some of this year's plans (that won't happen. Again.)

You can see what's wrong with the shed. Apart from being just on the ugly side of Jane Eyre, it is concrete, too small, and has an asbestos roof that soaks up rain and drips it onto my precious stuff inside. It is packed with stuff. So packed that I generally need to move things out before any serious work is possible in there.

So here I am, fired up with 'seize the day', and knee deep in annual plans to sort the shed out.

Hmm. Bit of a puzzle that.

Oh, and just to different, this year I plan to replace the roof.

Watch this space.