お庭の物置に入っていた本の箱は全部で６８箱ありました、昨日までに毎日大体１０箱ずつ片付けて今６箱残っているのですが、あと少しというところで今日は雨。夫が宅配便などによく使われている３つ車輪がついたカートを使って物置からクラフトルームに運んでくれているのですが、雨だとカートがどろどろになってしまうので今日はお休み。明日、地面が乾いていたら最後の６箱を片付けます。少しだけですが、クラフトグッズを預けているところにも本の箱があったと思うので、多分全部で７０箱ちょっとあるのではないかと思います。１箱に、日本語の料理本は薄いので多分４０冊くらい、英語の分厚いものでも２０冊くらいは入っていますので、平均３０冊として２１００冊。

There were 68 boxes of books stored in the shed in the garden and we have been working on 10 boxes per day (11 on two days) and there are 6 boxes left now.  We would have finished them today but unfortunately it’s been raining so we are having a break.  My husband has been carrying them with one of those little trollies with 3 wheels that I see Japanese courier companies use and the wheels will get muddy with this weather.  If the ground is dry we’ll finish them tomorrow.  I think I saw some more boxes of books that are in a storage somewhere with my craft goods, so there probably were 70 some boxes in total.  There are probably about 40 books per box if they are Japanese (they tend to be much thinner than English ones) and 20 or so if they are heavy ones in English – so say, 30 books in one box as an average, that makes 2100 books and they are almost all cookery books, I had most non-cookery books like craft books and novels taken to Charity shops or recycled in Singapore before we left.

手前の本箱に英語の料理本、奥の本箱に日本語の料理本を入れています。（料理本以外のクラフト関係の本や小説はほとんどシンガポールで処分してきました。）英語の本は夫が使うこともあるので、探しやすい手前に入れることにしました。手前は奥の５分の１ほど収納量が少ないこともありますが、日本を出てから英語の本を買うことの方が多いのでそこそこ埋まってきましたが、まだ余裕がありますし、奥の本棚は多分半分くらいまだ空いていると思うので、シンガポールで泣く泣く処分してきた本を持ってくれば良かったと少し 後悔。まぁ、収納は余裕がある方が良いですが。ちなみに、夫もたくさん本を持っていますが、夫の本は夫のロフトに元々作りつけてあった扉付きの棚の中に入れています。

I’m putting books in English in the front book cases and Japanese in the back because my husband would also use the ones in English.  Naturally, the front bookcases have less space than the back and also I guess I have been buying more books in English than Japanese since we left Japan, the front bookcases are more full than the back ones.  There is still good enough space in the front ones but I think the back ones might be only about a half full.  Although it’s great to have more room I regret a little that I didn’t bring more books from Singapore now that I know I could have accommodated them.  Incidentally my husband also has a lot of books but his books are in his loft in the book cases with doors that were already there when we bought the house.

この本棚、前後２重になっていて収納力が多くてして良かったと思っていますが、手前の本棚を動かすのが結構大変。重い本がたくさん入っていますから当然ですが、動き始めるまでは全身で横から押さないと動きません。あっちに入れたりこっちに入れたりしているので、結構な運動でした（笑）。

I am very happy that we went for this design of two layers of bookcases because they hold so many books, and it’s great that there is still extra space.  However, as you would expect, it is quite a hard work to move the front ones from side to side.  As I’m putting books in different areas, I have to keep moving the front bookcases and they are so heavy that I have to push with my whole body from the side until it moves.  I think it’s been good excercise 🙂