Page 17 - Phonebox Magazine May 2009

Iallowed myself a day out last Monday. Normally, my nose is applied firmly to the grindstone from dawn to dusk 7 days a week in order to trouser your cash, but I ventured forth on public transport, braving the vagaries of Network Rail’s most recent engineering works, and arrived triumphantly at the London Book Fair. This fair, you understand, is not just for books about London. No, it’s held in London, and all manner of publishers display all manner of books.
I admit that my main aim was to find more lovely childrens’ books. I don’t wish you to think that I am not happy with the ones we have already. Far from it. I like them a lot. The trouble is, you lot seem to like them too, and, having been snapped up by eager consumers, they keep disappearing out the door. This feeds my addiction. It makes me want more of the darned things.
Now, what else? Oh yes, on the way back to Euston, I had a bit of time to kill, so I stopped off at my pashmina supplier, a very
nice man named Vic.
page to give you details
of ALL the nuggets of
gold that I found. I don’t.
You’ll have to keep
coming in over the next
few months as the fruits
of my labours arrive. BUT,
I will share just one with
you. The Lonely Tree. I
don’t often resort to
celebrity endorsement
but get this from the
ubiquitous Stephen Fry. “Utterly, completely and splendidly charming. Originally illustrated and delightfully told.” There. That means he likes it.
that combine perfectly with the jewellery we have coming in this month, such as lilacs and greens and turquoise and coral. Crafty eh?
That was fatal, because
he always has enticing
new designs, and I got
carried away because I’d
seen the weather
forecast. Sun. Sun means
summer dresses, and
summer dresses at this time of year do not combine well with early evening chill breezes. Goose pimples are the result, and goose pimples despise pashminas
So, I relaxed to the inevitable, and descended on aisles A to E, Level 1, Earl’s Court, like a one man swarm of junior literary locusts. Would that I had room enough on this humble
because they are killed by them, just as paper kills rock in the child’s game. Cunningly I purchased loads of them, to take advantage of insatiable demand. Even more cunningly I chose colours
My work done for the day, I eventually arrived back at the shop to drop off my bits and pieces, and what did I find? Yes, my brand new red Outdoor FATBOY beanbag has been delivered. It’s for the pavement outside the store, so that I can lounge around, comfortably
The best bit is that Nicholas Halliday, the author and illustrator, lives in Aylesbury, which according to my Google Map thingy, is a mere 29.5 miles from Olney. So, Nick and I had a bit of a chinwag, and agreed he would pop over here to sign a few copies for customers, and chat about selling some of his fine illustrations in our upstairs galleries. All in all, it was a very productive morning’s work, even ignoring all the other goodies I came across and ordered for your subsequent delectation.
monitoring the air quality, whilst advertising the fact that we have a new FATBOY showroom upstairs. Did you catch that? I said NEW FATBOY SHOWROOM UPSTAIRS! Do try and keep up. Honestly.
Phonebox Magazine 17