The Aardvark Blog

New Year's Eve 2016
31/12/2016

So here we are in a for once quiet bookshop on New Year's Eve morning, with a large pile of online orders to pick and a long list of year end procedures left with stern instructions by Ethel Aardvark. The bookshop is amazingly ending the year in the best position we have so far achieved, and that  inevitably makes me think of all the people who have helped us to get where we are now.

First on that list is obviously Edward Tobin - my friend and business partner of many years and many adventures. At Christmas we miss him very much, and we try to do everything in the same spirit that he exhibited in his life. Whilst not without his faults, he was probably the most generous person that I have met  and somebody who touched the lives of so many people. An impossible hole to fill but we do our best.

Then there is Julia Haslam who worked for us for several years, and who was also taken far too soon.And all those who have worked at Aardvark over the years. Catherine Jackson, Aled, all  the brilliant young people who have contributed so much to Aardvark's success and atmosphere, and all those who are working with us now and so many more. To all of you I offer our profound thanks and gratitude. No man is an island as Jon Bon Jovi once said ( see Nick Hornby), and no bookshop can survive without the talents and skills of many different people. We have been so lucky to have those people work here.

And then there are the customers past and present, the regulars, the annual returners, and those who popped in once when they happened to be on holiday and loved the shop so much that they told their friends about us when they returned home. I would also like to thank those within the booktrade and outside, with whom we have done regular business over the years, or whom have offered us their help or services. To Stephen Bainbridge, Martin Blant, Carolyn Chesshire,  David Blanch, Dave Beswick, Stuart Davis, Anna Dreda, Shannon and Andrew, Max MacColl and many more - to all of you I offer my profound thanks and gratitude for the help and ideas that you have given us. Thanks also to all the musicians, writers and artists who have come to the bookshop and presented their works.

And finally to all those who have volunteered at our events and during the year, to those who have donated books or other help, and to the villagers of Brampton Bryan who have been so welcoming and so supportive.

To all of you and to any-one who reads this blog, may you have a happy, peaceful, bookish and prosperous New Year!