Laurie was in charge again today. She came up to the office, where I was working, to tell me that a customer had brought in a print of Wigtown. It was a handsome framed print from the mid-nineteenth century and showed architectural features of the town that are no longer there. He wanted £50, which I was more than happy to give to him.
Callum and I are planning to go sailing tomorrow if the weather is good. Last year he bought a Hurley 22, a small sailing boat that claims to be four-berth, but which in reality would be uncomfortable for four small children, let alone two men, each over six feet tall.
Till total £374.96
37 customers
WEDNESDAY, 16 JULY
Online orders: 3
Books found: 2
Laurie arrived on time, but the sailing trip that Callum had planned was dependent on fine weather, and this morning it was pouring with rain, so he telephoned to say that we should postpone until it improves, so I didn’t bother to pack or get organised. The moment the sun came out, he appeared without warning, ready to go, so I asked Laurie to pack and process the random books, and tell Wilma that they’re ready for collection when she drops off the mail sacks from today’s orders.
There are gaps appearing on the shelves, now that customers have started to come out of hibernation and are spending money – the Folio section and the railway section are particularly lean.
I packed hastily and said goodbye to Laurie, and we drove to Stranraer. We set sail at 1 p.m. and headed for Ailsa Craig, an uninhabited island in the Irish Sea, where we arrived at 7 p.m. The afternoon was cloudless and sunny, with the golden-orange sun silhouetting the island as we arrived. We moored at the pier and went ashore to explore the ruined buildings and old railway. Ailsa Craig is all that remains of an ancient volcanic plug. It is a granite lump off the Ayrshire coast. In its long history it has been a refuge for Catholic recusants in the sixteenth century, and is known locally as ‘Paddy’s Milestone’, partly because it is half-way between Glasgow and Belfast, and partly because of the folkloric tradition which pitched two fighting giants against one another: one Irish, one Scottish. According to the legend, they threw rocks at one another, and Ailsa Craig was the last rock thrown.
Callum and I sat in the cockpit of his boat drinking beer until about midnight, watching as thousands of small jellyfish drifted by, occasionally disturbing the surface and making rings as though someone had dropped a pebble in the otherwise flat calm sea. I slept in one of the tiny berths at the back of the boat, which felt uncomfortably like being in a coffin.
Till total £242.49
19 customers
THURSDAY, 17 JULY
Online orders: 3
Books found: 3
We awoke at about 9 a.m. and went to explore the island further. We walked first to the northern foghorn, then I climbed to the summit, stopping to have a look at the castle on the way up. Callum stayed with the boat and anti-fouled the hull. I returned to the boat at about 1 p.m. and went for a swim before setting off for Lamlash. While I was at the summit of Ailsa Craig, I saw a boat motoring slowly towards Callum’s boat, as if it intended to pull up and say hello. As it drew closer, I noticed it abruptly changed course and headed towards Girvan. When I returned to the boat, Callum was inside making a cup of tea. I mentioned to him that the other boat appeared to have taken a strange turn and he explained, ‘Oh, that. After you’d headed up to the summit, I decided that I’d anti-foul the hull in the nude, since there was nobody about. I didn’t hear that boat approaching, and I was hauling myself on board to get a brush, inadvertently pointing my bare arse right at them. It was only when I got back in the water that I noticed the boat, but by that time they were gone.’
We set off for Arran at 2 p.m., in an intermittent wind, so we motored and sailed, depending on what was most favourable.
We arrived at Lamlash at about 7 p.m., accompanied by a pod of porpoises. Callum inflated the tender, and we rowed ashore to The Drift Inn for a meal and a few drinks before heading back to the boat for the night.
Till total £102
11 customers
FRIDAY, 18 JULY
Online orders: 0
Books found: 0
Explored Holy Island just off Lamlash.
3 p.m. message from Laurie to say that there is a power cut.
Till total £389.45
29 customers
SATURDAY, 19 JULY
Online orders: 0
Books found: 0
I got back to the shop from the sailing trip at 4 p.m. to a startled Nicky, who had no idea when we were due to return. She was visibly upset to see me home safely. After I had shut the shop, a man telephoned to say that he is moving into a care home from his house, and wants to sell his book collection. He lives just outside Kelso, in a small village. I have arranged to visit him towards the end of the month.
Till total £288.98
38 customers
MONDAY, 21 JULY
Online orders: 0
Books found: 0
Laurie was in today, a lovely sunny day.
Monsoon was still not working, probably a consequence of the power cut on Friday, so I emailed their tech support team.
The first customer of the day was an Irish woman, who turned up at the shop at 9.09 a.m. and asked, ‘Tell me now, does everything in Scotland open at 10 a.m.?’
After work I went to a meeting organised by the council, chaired by someone called ‘The Shop Doctor’, whose job it is to help retailers improve their businesses. It turned out to be a complete waste of time, and I spent three pointless hours being tortured by his PowerPoint presentation, an abomination rich with revelatory insights like ‘If you keep your door open, more customers will come in than if it is closed’ and ‘The name of your business should reflect what you sell’. Well, I think I managed to nail that one. There’s not a lot of ambiguity about ‘The Book Shop’. I reached my limit and left when he showed a series of photographs of seriously run-down shops and asked us – like a group of pre-school children – ‘Can anybody see what’s wrong with this one?’ By this point everyone was seething, and for a brief moment I feared a lynching, a fear that rapidly became a hope the moment he addressed me. ‘You. You’ve been very quiet. What do you think is wrong with this shop front?’ he oozed, as his projector clicked to a photograph of a shop with no sign, a smashed window and a burned-out car in front of it.
Till total £187.60
30 customers
TUESDAY, 22 JULY
Online orders: 4
Books found: 0
Laurie in again and another sunny day. She spent the day listing books for sale on Fulfilled By Amazon. Once we’re up to four boxes she will organise for them to be taken to the Amazon warehouse in Dunfermline.
A customer came to the counter when Laurie was having a break, and pointed at a sealed box with an address label on, which contained a set of Statistical Accounts that we are shipping out to a buyer in the USA.
Customer: ‘I am a bit confused, that box over there …’
Me: ‘Sorry, the books in that box aren’t for sale. They’ve already been sold.’
Customer: ‘I thought not.’
I still have no idea what that was about.
Nicky sent me an email in which she described a customer on Saturday who had come into the shop in full Highland fighting dress: ‘Glorious green gilet and hand-knitted socks, capercaillie feathers dancing on his bonnie Glengarry.’ Apparently he ‘marched proudly into the shop accompanied by a whinging dog which didn’t shut up until he marched back outside. Kind of ruined his image. And he didn’t acknowledge me. Probably English.’
Booked in to have my hair cut tomorrow by Richard, the barber three doors down the street from my shop.