The Aardvark Blog

New Year greetings, arrivals and departures, books. books, books
15/01/2023

Every New Year I harbour a fantasy. Worry not, this one is entirely clean and pure of thought. My fantasy is that I will be able to finally work through some of the darker reaches of the warehouse, discovering books I bought five or ten years ago and liberating them to be seen once more by the light of day. And each year something happens to make that plan disappear like smoke. In the last few years it has not been helped by flooding which although not threatening the bookery itself, closes off random roads in the district, making it difficult for customers and indeed ourselves to get to the shop.

Last week I was greeted by the sight of Lucy arriving in waders having had to walk through over 2 feet of water (and flag down a passing car), just to be able to get to work. Then, as Macmillan was wont to say when being asked to identify what it was that knocked governments off course, 'Events, dear boy, events' mean that we find ourselves in the middle of a very large house clearance - our second of 2023 - at a time when Ethel and I were supposed to be preparing for the arrival of electricians who will be rewiring our house.

Then there is the biggest disruption of all. At the beginning of 'Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall', Spike Milligan writes that after Puckoon he swore he would never write another book - and this is it. Well, after we lost Coco at the end of last summer, Ethel and I swore oaths that we would wait some time before letting another quadruped loose in our home and our hearts. Here in the attached picture is the dog we were not going to get. Again: events, dear boy, events.

Still on the plus side, notwithstanding the prevailing economic headwinds and the endless biblical rain, we have been selling a surprising number of books this month. To the constant annoyance of Ethel I always say that money earnt in January and February counts double that earnt in the rest of the year. Whilst this is not strictly true, it feels true. These months are ones when the usually healthy post-Christmas bank balances decline at a precipitous rate, not helped by the fact that many things such as insurance are paid annually in January.

But to return to the gripes, I must apologise to customers who ordered before Christmas for any delays to parcels being received. The impact of the Royal Mail strikes on their own and other courier services was profound. Some items were also not left in the most logical places by delivery staff who were overwhelmed. And in a new New Year apology may I also apologise to any overseas customers whose parcels will now be delayed by Royal Mail falling victim to a Russian ransomware hack. When explaining this to an Australian customer on Friday I did find myself wondering whether I had wandered into a James Bond movie, rather than just trying to run a bookshop in the third decade of the new Millennium.

And whilst we are feeling gloomy, the holiday season brought news of a small group of customers who have left us and with whom I will no longer be able to exchange banter over the crowded Aardvark counter. All will be missed, but I am particularly sad not to be able to welcome again Brian Edwards, whose knowledge of wines and vines, added to his massive passion for Science Fiction made him almost the perfect customer for me. A gentle, humorous man who through his pioneering work introducing vines to the UK did a lot to make our little world better.

To end with some positive thoughts, any lovers of fiction, vintage cooking and gardening will be in seventh heaven, as due to our being somewhat overwhelmed with books, many of the most recent new purchases are going onto the shelves at nominal prices. Adding to the incentive to buy now, in February we are going to have to put up our fiction prices for the first time in 19 years! Why delay when you have so many gaps in your Penguin collection to fill?

So, to all readers and customers, may 2023 have more posititives than negatives, and may the pets you don't acquire give you as much pleasure as our non-acquisition is giving Ethel and me.