Шон Байтелл - The Diary of a Bookseller

Today was a warm day, although several customers came in dressed as though it was January.

The swallow chicks have started to fly. Captain is keeping a close eye on them.

The widow from Norwich replied to my inquiry about her late husband’s book collection. Apparently it is mainly erotica. She is going to organise a courier to ship it up to the shop.

Till total £247.88

17 customers

Online orders: 4

Books found: 3

Nicky was in to work in the shop today. She was unable to disguise her delight on hearing the news that I would be away for the next two days, first to clear Anna’s flat, and then on to Somerset for my cousin Suzie’s wedding.

I bade Nicky as fond a farewell as our relationship permits and left for London in the blazing sunshine at 11 a.m., arriving in Hampstead at 7 p.m., after I had dropped books off at the auction in Dumfries en route . Normally I send anything really rare to Lyon & Turnbull’s Edinburgh saleroom, and the Dumfries auction has become more fussy, so I can’t dump rubbish there any more, but occasionally I find myself buying something that I know will sell there but not in the shop: sets of reasonably good bindings, for example. They tend to be bought by antique furniture dealers at the saleroom because – when they’re selling bookcases – they are far easier to sell if they have nice-looking books on them.

Till total £307.89

36 customers

Online orders: 3

Books found: 3

Nicky covered the shop again, and since I haven’t heard from her, I am naively assuming that all is well.

Anna and I drove from London to Taunton on the hottest day of the year. The van has no air-conditioning, and we were stuck on the M25 for three hours.

Suzie’s wedding was a splendid affair, and everyone turned up to cheer them on. There was dancing and drinking long into the night: my mother had booked a huge holiday house about a mile from the reception, and a dozen or so of us stayed there, including Irish cousins, and my sister Lulu and her husband, Scott. There is always much amusement when we all get together, and people outside the gene pool of the family with whom we are in relationships compare notes about how indecisive all the Bythells are. All of our partners/husbands/wives formed a group and started telling stories about our emotional incompetence; there were frequent hysterics, which were invariably followed by a chorus of ‘mine does that too’.

Till total £351.46

35 customers

Online orders: 5

Books found: 4

Laurie eventually managed to make it back to work following a week of Pet Rescue with the orphaned kittens.

Anna and I drove back from Taunton and arrived home to Wigtown before 7 p.m., just in time for a meeting in the County Buildings about a proposed wind farm that is to be built on land at Kirkdale. We went along and objected, on the grounds that it will be clearly visible from Wigtown (across the bay), and it is unclear whether we will be within the eligible zone for the community cash bribe that usually accompanies such enterprises. The predicted annual turnover of the wind farm is somewhere in the region of £30 million, and the amount to be given to the residents (to be decided by committee) is just £100,000, or 0.3 per cent of turnover. As most of the visual impact of the development will be from our side of the bay, we are unlikely to benefit much, if at all, because we are furthest away. Those to whom the wind farm is nearest stand to gain the most, and very few of them will even see it. It has angered a great many people in the Machars.

Till total £213.48

17 customers

Online orders: 3

Books found: 1

The first order for a book today was about the history of level crossings.

Laurie made it in on another beautiful sunny day.

Much of today was spent editing the video for the Galloway Activity Centre on Loch Ken. When I came downstairs to cover Laurie’s lunch break, she told me that she had been ‘shhh-ed’ by a customer for eating an apple too loudly. Apparently this was shortly followed by some deliberately audible whispering along the lines of ‘Kids today’ and ‘Doesn’t she know that this is a bookshop?’

A customer brought in three books on music, for which I gave him £10.

I received an extremely ominous text message from Nicky about working this week. It ended with the words ‘Wait till you see what I have got for you THIS week! You’ll love it!’

The time has come to replace the van. It has done 172,000 miles, and I have reached the point where I am starting to wonder if it can cope with long journeys, so I went to Wigtown Motor Company and spoke to Vincent about looking for a replacement.

Till total £254.98

25 customers

Online orders: 3

Books found: 3

Laurie made it in again today, but she had to bring the kittens with her because there was nobody at home to feed them.

The time may have come for a dreaded visit to the Polish dentist in Stranraer; I awoke with diabolical toothache this morning. My reluctance to visit the dentist is in no way a reflection on his ability as a practitioner, and has more to do with the memory of my last visit, during which he extracted a wisdom tooth. That trauma, however, paled into insignificance when I bumped into an old friend and two of her young children in Morrisons supermarket shortly afterwards. They all looked terrified. When I got back home and checked in the mirror, I understood why. Most of my face was frozen in a stroke-like state from the anaesthetic, and my chin was covered in blood, much of which had dribbled onto my shirt.

The depressed Welsh woman phoned again, the usual disappointment in her voice before I had even replied that there is nothing in stock for her.

Till total £334.99

28 customers

Online orders: 3

Books found: 2

Laurie in again today, yet another beautiful day.

Among the emails this morning were two, both from angry customers, each of whom complained that they had received the wrong book in the post. The customer who had ordered a book on bullfighting had instead received a book on creative candle-making, and the creative candlemaker had received the book on bullfighting. Despite the fact that we have agreed to refund them and rectify the mistake, the bullfighter left negative feedback on Amazon with the following comment:

The book listed above, which I ordered, was not sent. Instead a book called Creative Candlemaking was sent by mistake. The 2 books could not be more different in content. I have contacted the suppliers – Wigtown Book Shop – to inform them of this mistake. They have acknowledged and have agreed to send the correct book when I return the book I did not order.

Vincent called to say that he has found a van in Inverary that has 50,000 miles on the clock and is £10,000, so I will speak to the bank about setting up another loan.

Till total £89.29

14 customers

Online orders: 2

Books found: 2

Nicky was back on duty again today – another beautiful sunny day marred only by her presence. She announced this morning that she will no longer participate in the videos we’ve been making for Facebook, in which she expounds her wisdom on various subjects, to the enormous amusement of the people who follow the shop’s page, because I changed one after we had agreed on a final cut. She has, however, agreed to do the filming and make me the victim.