The Diary of a Bookseller

THURSDAY, 19 JUNE

Online orders: 6

Books found: 5

Nicky was in today. Her plan to turn her van into a mobile shop has been temporarily put on hold because the back door won’t open. She has decided instead that she is going to buy an old mobile library from the council and convert that.

In the morning I started going through Hamish Grierson’s books, which he had dropped off when I was in Dunkeld. Hamish is a retired antique dealer and a book collector, so a regular customer. The books were mainly about prehistory and in good condition. When I was checking the prices of some of the more interesting books from his collection on AbeBooks to see what other people are selling them for so that I could work out a fair price for him, I told Nicky that I was going to offer him £100 for them, to which she replied, as she always does, that I ought to halve the figure.

Anna insisted that, since it was a clear, sunny day, we climb Cairnsmore, the granite lump of a hill on the far side of Wigtown Bay. We left at 3 p.m. and reached the summit at 4.30 p.m. and were back home by 6.30 p.m. It is always entertaining doing this sort of thing with Anna: it is always she who suggests it, then very soon into the adventure she will start complaining bitterly about it, becoming increasingly vocal and miserable. Then, once it is done, she will announce, ‘Wow, that was awesome.’ On one occasion we decided to cycle forty miles around forestry tracks in the Galloway Hills. After about twenty miles of steadily escalating complaints, she dismounted, lay on a rock and said, ‘Leave me here. Save yourself.’

Till total £155.44

23 customers