We've moved. It's been a bloody business. One house falling through completely. The next taking forever. And as soon as we finally got in, my car was er - nicked - from the end of the road. So roots have been well and truly wrenched up.
But then I trot along to the nearest library and sign on, and behold, all is well again. That wonderful sense of coming home. The warmth. The smile. The shelves and shelves of books to explore. The notices pinned up inviting me to this or that event. The ease, compared to everything else about a move, of signing on. The huge sense of excitement and achievement at leaving the building with three lovely lovely lovely books under my arm.
And this, by the way, is now a community library because of the latest cull on these precious buildings. So it's run by volunteers. Because what a philistine appalling thing it would be to close the local library. Of course we shouldn't take them for granted. Of course they have to be modern and keep up with the changing technological world. But what a gift, what an open-handed, please come in and enjoy place a library is.
Thank you, library. I will treasure you all the more because you are not yet lost. And I will fight for your existence, free, to anyone who wants you, until my dying day.
What a very stressful time you've been having, Katharine! And the car being removed without your authority (i.e. nicked!) to boot. Thank goodness, for libraries, eh? We are fortunate here to have a lovely new (well, newish) town library, when others are closing theirs. Of course, plans had been approved and building had been started before the Recession, so all continued according to, a'hem, plan, and now we have a super library with all kinds of facilities (it's OK to pooh-pooh computers, but where would we be without 'em these days?) and, what is more, a great café, too.
ReplyDeleteI do hope it won't be long before you are able to settle down again and delight us with another great novel. Might I ask, what is the w.i.p. at the moment, or is that under wraps?
All good wishes,
Margaret Powling
Lovely to hear from you Margaret. WIP is out in June, I really hope. See latest blog for the settling down issue
ReplyDelete