A lifetime of maps

I am enthralled by maps and love to read them in all their detail, just like a book. Everywhere we go, either to live or on holiday, I have to have a map, and I don't think I have ever thrown one away.

Today I decided that enough was enough and there was no more room for all these memories. I had a great time sorting through them, travelling to north and South America, to Africa and of course to many places in Europe. I wasn't too ruthless. I only threw away maps of places I knew we would never go again, or maps that were so hopelessly out of date as to be of no use. But I binned nothing that had important memories or were of historical value. I still kept maps of Venezuela and Kenya where we lived for a while. I still kept all forty of my Ordnance Survey maps - I enjoy them too much to lose those.

The box looks tidier, but I can't help wondering whether deep in the rubbish bin there is a map that one day I might miss.