The Diary of a Bookseller

FRIDAY, 23 JANUARY

Online orders: 1

Books found: 1

Heavy rain and freezing cold all day today. Nicky arrived at 9.15 a.m., as usual. I was vaguely jealous of her Canadian ski suit. She told me that she has been ill all week with a fever, and by Wednesday she was hallucinating: ‘Aye, it was great. Just like the old days.’ The first thing she did was to enthuse sarcastically about the new thermal curtains I have hung throughout the shop – ‘Oh, aye, they’re lovely. They look like they’re from a Barratt show home in a suburb of Swindon. Ya tube.’

Fortunately her illness prevented her from raiding the Morrisons skip, so there was no Foodie Friday this week.

Mr Deacon came in and bought a copy of Lucy Inglis’s Georgian London which we had in a window display. His left arm was in plaster, but I didn’t ask why, and he offered no explanation.

A woman in China emailed this morning. She blogs about books and has seen ‘Readers’ Delight’. She asked for permission to share it on the Chinese equivalent of YouTube, so I told her that I would be more than happy if she did. She seems to be the Chinese Jen Campbell, travelling around bookshops and writing about them. I have invited her to come and stay here.

When I gave Nicky the paperwork for the orders that I couldn’t find during the week, she immediately blamed Bethan – who hasn’t worked here since September – for putting the books on the wrong shelves.

Anna and I went to visit Jessie in hospital again. She looks much better and had a stream of visitors. Her latest news is that Chris, her husband, has been admitted to Dumfries Infirmary with a heart attack. The poor man’s mother died a couple of days ago, aged 106.

Nicky decided to go home rather than stay overnight, because she wasn’t feeling well.

Till total £118.95

8 customers