I’m slowly recovering from my trip north, so it was today that I felt more human than I have felt for at least a fortnight. I was up and ready to go to work early well relatively good. Once we had our all the orders picked for the day it was into the shop I go, but first I needed some food a hamburger will do fine. Where I chose to order my burger is a little shop around the corner from me. The man that runs this shop also has a newsagent in the ten or so years that I went to buy a newspaper he never even spoke to me I didn’t worry I had more pressing concerns, but I was surprised to walk in and find the same gent in the shop, and wonder of wonders he greeted me like a lost friend a welcome change it even made the hamburger taste better.

Then on to work the usual jobs I have to do open doors, turn on computers, check emails, print out orders answer the phone and a thousand and other tasks. One of those calls was from a out of state gentleman that ordered a book last week, he wanted to post a cheque to me I hate them but he was an older man so I acquiesced he already had my address so we agreed on a price including postage then all I had to do was wait for the mail, well over a week later the cheque hadn’t arrived & you know it I received a call from an angry customer, saying that he was still waiting for the book, but the cheque hasn’t arrived I have checked the mail everyday, I went on to explain that the mail is always in the wrong boxes, I have thought of getting a post office box but I don’t want to spend the extra money. Finally I said that if he deposits the money in my account then I will post cheque back to him if it ever arrives. In the whole time I have been posting used and rare books all over the world. Australia Post has been excellent, the only place that they need to improve is on delivery in Australia, well to me at least there doesn’t seem to be a week that we have to put someone elses mail in the right box.

The next incident was the man that wanted one book but gave me a list of over 250 authors god knows how many titles he wanted to buy in bulk but his budget was limited maybe $10.00 per sale, then he want to talk to me for the next hour and a half and tell me about all the deals he had done around the state buying & selling books. Meanwhile I have customers lining up waving money at me, excuse while I serve these people, courier drivers delivering books for expectant customers.

Another event occurred just awhile later with the arrival of a hirsute gentleman interested in a broad range of subjects, fiction history biographies local histories. We had a very interesting conversation about books authors movies and people and dozens of other interesting topics, good fun for all round.

There was also the couple that make jewelry and sell at some of the local markets, avid true crime fans and keen to tell us about their job & local markets, I’m reading a used book about a 12 year old Belgian girl Sabine Dardenne I Choose to Live a truly gruesome story but a story of the human spirit in a girl so young, I usually run a mile before reading these types of books, when I finish it, its off to Wilma to read while I look for another book I wonder what will turn up ? they always do.

But the hands down freak event on Friday was what had the mouse done to get plastered with tomato sauce? This solving of this saucy tales is unanswered But only one nameless person is still trying to find out how this happened. The rest of us have taken the fifth or whatever the Australian equivalent is, we won’t talk even if it means torture. It remains a case for Inspector Lestrade, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters from Sherlock Holmes books

Big Red on the Mouse

Do you know how it happened?

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