Newsletter

With some parts of the Kingdom seeing twice the rainfall in May that we’d normally expect, and with the temperature now getting higher, it’s no surprise the trees and hedges are eagerly sucking up all that moisture from the ground and giving the landscape a particularly luscious lush’ness – even the nortoriously lazy Hornbeam (?) trees in the walk outside the shop have finally started to get a wriggle on and show some colour. It may be a few weeks later than normal, but the palette of green which nature provides is particularly welcome this year.

Get that week out of the way,
shake that Etch-a-Sketch and start all over again!

Choice is an indicator of liberty – freedom to choose is one of those precious commodoties which can sometimes be easily overlooked and taken for granted. A book shop is the perfect place to exercise choice, and therefore freedom – these four walls should contain a haven of liberty.

A manifesto which offered a warm and sunny Spring would scoop up all the votes. The rain is beating down, the wind sometimes catching a bucketful and throwing it against the window – that might even have been a rumble of thunder in the distance. The screaming Swifts and agile Swallows would do well to delay their arrival.

There’s a wonderful poster from the Second World War, it’s been titled ‘We Can Do It’ and was produced as a motivational image for workers at the US company Westinghouse. At a time when many men were away fighting, industries became reliant on women to provide the labour in the factories – the image has become iconic and a rallying call for strength and equality – it is simple, it is powerful and it is beautiful. These are the times for powerful icons, these are the times to be strong.

A switch has been thrown and as if by magic, conversations seem to be back in fashion. Now we’re able to mix with one another a little more freely, it seems we’ve re-discovered the joy of chatting. Subjects for discussion are wide and expansive, it’s like a dam has burst and the words come pouring out. Conversations in the shop have always been a ‘thing’, it’s a great place to chat, but being shut for three months it’s been a little quiet and has excluded those outside influences which come from meeting customers, publishers and other folk connected with what we do.