Le plus ça change…

In the course of my radical 'spring cleaning', conducted in easy stages over the past weeks, many discoveries have been made. Kilos of waste paper will no longer burden me should I move to a new flat, which is however highly unlikely. But why did I hang onto the multi-page lease agreement for a flat I rented in Paris in 1975, not to mention even more obscure printed ephemera from bygone days?

The oldest diskettes I found bear the date 1987, files stored when I was almost certainly still using an Apple Mac 512K. One of the labels tells me that 27 years ago I was saving 'translation files'. That was when I was at an entrepreneurial low point, when translating film and television scripts from German to English at least almost paid the rent.

Little did I realize that more than a quarter of a century later that would again be my way of earning my daily bread. Not that I am complaining, given that I have just finished a five week assignment which was hugely welcome and fun to do. And after almost none months of severe underemployment it was nice to get back into a serious work routine.

The other diskette label says 'MJT originals'. Then as now I was writing....

Le plus ça change… le plus c’est la même chose.