now and then

It was a Sunday afternoon, and as I was packing boxes filled with the old toys, which were left over from the clearance sale at my closed down second hand toyshop. I realised that I was also packing away twenty years of my life, which was devoted to setting up and keeping this shop running. I looked around the room taking in the soft blue walls with paint chipping off them, the brightly coloured toys poking out of boxes, and the faded green carpet on the floor. Shivering from the coldness of the rain outside, I...