The Pergola

I had to be up at 4:30 this morning for the first round of It Will Never Work in Theory talks, so I took the day off work. After a nap and some lunch I decided to tear down the old pergola in our garden: some of the wood was rotten and it blocks the light to the garden beds we’ve built.

As I was prying the boards apart I couldn’t help but think that someone must have enjoyed it once upon a time. Someone had built it and trained the honeysuckle to grow on it; someone had probably sat where I’m sitting now and enjoyed looking at it, and now I was just whacking it with a hammer so that I could throw it out with the trash.

And having had that thought I had to wonder if the things I’ve built are destined for the same fate. I have 34 repositories on GitHub and there’s about a million words on this site; will anyone learn from it or will it bring anyone any pleasure after I’m gone, and if so, for how long?

Time to make a cup of tea. If you came in peace, be welcome; if not, be damned with you.