When we had the flood at the cottage in Scotland (for any new readers click here) I was quite pleased to find that my collection of Coast magazines had survived undamaged. I always looked forward to the walk along the beach to the village store to buy my copy and buying local helps keep the shop running as it is the only one left now (the Post Office closed down last year and is now part of the general store) and it is 15 miles into the nearest town. As we have never had a TV there I would read and reread each copy on an evening whilst listening to the radio.
Since the flood it seemed a bit pointless buying the magazine any more and to be honest I haven’t really missed it as a lot of the features are just repeated like any other magazine so I thought long and hard about why I was hanging on to this great stack of old magazines going back to 2005 and I couldn’t really come up with a good enough answer to warrant keeping them.
I had already taken any useful coastal gardening features out a while ago, as these were the most interesting articles for me, the recipes were mainly for cooking fish (and as you know I am vegetarian), and I had also torn out any decorating ideas that might inspire me in the future. I decided that if I needed any of the information in the future about the featured Seaside towns and walks or seabirds and animal life I could always find something in other places like the internet or local library so last night I sat and poured through each one, pulled out any remaining features that I might want to refer to…
and here they are all ready for the charity shop or recycle bin.
I kept half a dozen of the earliest copies together with a handful of local magazines called Down Your Way which have nostalgic contributions written by Yorkshire folk and my mum always likes to read these when she visits.
The old Lloyd Loom bedside cabinet now housed on the mezzanine of the newly decorated bedroom has a handy ledge to display my much reduced but more manageable collection.
I actually feel quite relieved that I do not have to find a space to store all those magazines now and it is another step on my way to a simplified life.
where the journey takes me 
That was brave of you! I have a couple dozen old music magazines, and another couple dozen “misc” magazines that were meaningful to me at different times. I don’t buy magazines anymore but I do read some at the library. We lose a couple of titles every month as they go out of print. It feels like the era of magazines is over now that we have Pinterest, etc. I know I especially avoid music magazines now because by the time they are printed, I have already read all the music news online.
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If we still had the cottage I would no doubt have kept them but until it is up and running again I had to store them here and I hadn’t actually looked at them since the flood anyway.
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Just discovered your blog and really enjoying reading your posts. I do find decluttering so therapeutic and have been on a similar mission to lose “stuff” over this Autumn. I think this time of year is a good time to do it too – the house feels lighter and airier at a time when the shortening days and grey weather can make it feel the opposite. I am intrigued by the EA leitmotiv in your post titles – is there a reason behind it? I feel there ought to be but can’t quite fathom out what it might be! Do tell! Lovely to “meet you” anyway. Elizabeth x
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Hi Thomasina – welcome to my blog – I have had a quick peek at yours and will be back later for a good read. I am always amazed at the amount of blogs that I am yet to discover – how did I never come across yours before? The EA puzzle – well that came about when I was naming my categories at the start and I didn’t particularly want a category cloud in my sidebar but didn’t just want a long list either – choosing only category names that have EA within them such as bEAch and mEAndering made them a bit more focused and interesting perhaps slightly quirky I suppose but definitely mine. With the change of blog theme recently the categories for the individual posts are more evident above the post title and it is only since the change that I am now incorporating this into each title -so my post title will always state the category I am about to talk about in the post. I am sure you are not the only one who is perhaps wondering – so I hate to disappoint you that it is no more than me just playing about with words!!
Phew – need a cup of tea after that LOL! have a good day – oh and that tea cosy on your recent post photo – my mum in law used to knit some exactly like that – sadly mine wore out.
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I use to but Country Living but found same old same old. On one occasion I was reading through before realising the magazine I had picked up was a year old – nothing had changed. Prices were just OVER THE TOP!
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I know what you mean. My OH renews the subscription each year as a Xmas present so I continue with it and it is a love hate relationship! That is with the magazine not OH!!
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I’m another fan of Coast magazine and also have Country Living Magazine. I was reluctant to get rid of my past copies of Coast too and a few years ago started getting it my Kindle instead, which has worked. It was only after about 6 months of corresponding with Freda that I realised I had first come across her wonderful garden in one of those magazines! Sarah x
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Yes – it was a while until I made the connection – I kept reading her blog and everytime she did a post of the garden I had this feeling that I knew it from somewhere and of course that somewhere was my folder of Garden Ideas – I had cut the pages out of Coast magazine to keep! I met Freda and Barry one sunny afternoon a few years ago when we had a trip over to Dunoon on the ferry and we went round her beautiful garden and then her studio of paintings – one very talented lady.
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