But now that I'm the keeper of the family archives I'm developing a harder shell. My parents were keen snappers. The snaps piled up- most of them of little interest to anyone not represented in them. Many are in albums which means they take up even more space.
I've got a picture in front of me now - it was just lying around- as such things do. It shows a group of middle-aged people sitting at a table in a restaurant. My mother- leaning in at the left hand margin- is one of them. On the back is the explanatory note- Christmas lunch of the German Class 1988. Will I keep it? Yes, I suppose I will. If I don't I'll suffer pangs of guilt at having destroyed what may one day be a precious social document. Into the cupboard it goes- in with all the rest- and I can only hope that my many-times great grandchildren are duly grateful.