Paralysed by PICTURES

When it comes to ditching unknown faces in a family album, Colin is frozen

- COLIN HOGG

How hard is it to throw out old photographs? The answer, I feel, starts with “im” and ends with “possible”, though I don’t know why there’s any suggestion that it’s actually possible at all.

The other day, I was swithering (an old Scottish word for indecision) over ditching an ancient photo featuring two old ladies who were complete strangers to me. It was in the box among all the other old-school printed photos I inherited from my mother after she died.

For some years now, I’ve been determined to go through all those photos and organise them into albums in case future generations should take an interest. Ages ago, I even bought some albums to organise them into, but otherwise never quite got round to the task, which seemed much more daunting than anticipated. But lately, at a loose end, I’m beginning the impossible task again.