The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

pollyanna_26

annieb64 said:

I work in a charity bookshop. This year-when we have been allowed  to open- we have been so busy. Paperback fiction has been flying off the shelves but we have had a lot in too.
Jigsaws have also sold really well and we've  had lots of parents in stocking up on children's  books.
I'm  quite fussy about which non fiction I put out but we do have some volunteers  who can't bear to throw a book out"  so some rubbish  does end up on the shelves.

My eldest daughter spent most of her working life with a well known bookseller. She's worked around Eurpope and iin different parts of the UK. Some years ago she was in charge of the Irish Republic and living in Dublin. She loved being there apart from the Dublin to Cork commute. All her stores were doing the right thing etc however the store on oconnell street was a real thorn in her side. The manager was the former owner who after decades of making a reasonable living had found footfall had declined and he was struggling to keep his head above water. He was offered a very good buy out deal but refused. In the end they bought the business and left him as store manager. I used to be in hysterics as dd ranted and raved on her in car phone on the journey to the store and the one back home. Back then chick lit was the new thing and heavily promoted in the ground floor displays. He didn't understand chick lit and when she finally got him to look in the unopened boxes in the storeroom said it was of no literary worth. As time passed the boxes languished and dd muttered. My defending a traditional brought only "Well trust you to be on his side you're living in the past what to do you know about books and reading" Reply " Well apart from the fact I taught you to read at the age of three, have been a reader since I was small and sent you back to Uni each term with boxes of food etc so you could study for the Engish Lit degree I don't know. I do know you need to understand human beings and how to communicate with them rather than going in all guns blazing and  to explain rather than issue orders".

I suppose he was like your volunteers annie unablr to put "rubbish" on the shelves. DD gave up and moved on to another region and I've often wondered if he is still there defending what goes on his shelves but daren't open the can of worms by asking the question.

As a footnote dd then running Scotland  and the North of England - Oh woe has any parent ever been given the secret shopper role in their local store? Especially when they've been present during past store visits by Attila the Hun.

Postscript. Dd sent me an email a few months ago. " I didn't want you crying on the phone so I'm sending you this etc. She marched into her CEOs office and handed in her notice after failing to win her battles with wee Nicola about stores opening and closing during lockdown. Two determined redheads and the wee one won.

So the person who was quiite dismissive of gardening , loathed flower shows- oh the   moans- but did get into gardening when she was living in Yorkshire walked away with a good payout from her company , a good pension and 50% off books for life.

She's now training with the RHS and planning to go self employed as a gardener and designer. Oh the irony.

pollyx

ps I wonder if she'll ever go back to dublin to buy some 50% off books and plant some chick lit on the shelves.

euronorris

-taff said:

@boazu I could probably beat you for eclectic reading material. That was actually the word used on one of my school reports in primary school.I agitated for months to get an adult library card because all the children books were either  boring or I'd read them all. When I finally did get one, one of the teachers used to quiz me on the books I'd read to check I was actually reading them. I must admit though sci fi and sci fi fantasy are my loves. This also translates into movies so anything involving action and aliens always has my vote. I used to buy second hand ones occasionally form a market stall and got to chatting with the owner. This stall also bought books back and while we chatting she told me that she could pretty much tell who was going to bring books back but that no one who bought sci fi ever brought them back. Judging by my bookshelves [ when they're finally up] I concur.

Ditto. Though my favourite genre is epic fantasy, such as Lord of the Rings.

Though there is a distinct lack of new viewing material in the sci fi arena at the moment. Same for most genres to be fair. A lot of filming ground to a halt last year.

herbily

I don't know if anyone's been watching "New Lives in the Wild" on Channel 5, Tuesday evenings, but next week's episode looks as if it's going to be with Mark Boyle, who wrote the Moneyless Manifesto, and "No Way Home". For peeps who like hearing about off-grid living and self-sufficiency.

Floss

annieb64 said:

Chalet school books are quite collectable now if you still have any.

Sadly I have moved 10 times since then, they probably got passed on to a neighbour's daughter when I left home to get married!

Floss

DB1 gave me a copy of LOTR when I was 14 (to stop me reading his!) and I read that copy over & over until I was in my 40s when DS1 borrowed it, took it back to Leeds & had it destroyed by being dropped in the bath by his housemate. I wasn't happy, the more recent version of the paperback cover just isn't the same!

cornishchick

GP has signed me off work till the 18th of Feb, continuing fatigue and muscle pain. I have only been working there for 3 months, so not sure about SSP. 
I have my favorite books as paper and research ones as kindle. if they are really good, I will then plan on finding a paper version. 

elaine241

Whilst we are on the subject of prepping I am going to say a very public thank you to the Prepper thread member who out of the kindness of her heart sent me four of the River Cottage handbooks. They know who they are!! THANKYOU!!!! XXX

Thriftygifty

herbily said:

I don't know if anyone's been watching "New Lives in the Wild" on Channel 5, Tuesday evenings, but next week's episode looks as if it's going to be with Mark Boyle, who wrote the Moneyless Manifesto, and "No Way Home". For peeps who like hearing about off-grid living and self-sufficiency.

I am, I love this show, watching it right now. I would love to live that lifestyle, I did to a certain degree when I was a child, DH and I have been talking of maybe having a family gap year, if and when things get better. I would love nothing more than to buy somewhere small and isolated to escape to when I needed to. I often worry that we are raising the kids to comfortable and not yet understanding how fortunate they are, I don't want them to think they need to keep up with the Jones later on, I see DS5 already changing so much with school and the social changes that go with it. I hope he can cling on to being an individual but also know how to speak with people unlike me who is socially awkward.  DH and I are trying our best to teach the children OS ways.

On the subject of books I love Bill Bryson and any travel books and historical crime/adventure. 

wondercollie

annieb64 said:

I work in a charity bookshop. This year-when we have been allowed  to open- we have been so busy. Paperback fiction has been flying off the shelves but we have had a lot in too.
Jigsaws have also sold really well and we've  had lots of parents in stocking up on children's  books.
I'm  quite fussy about which non fiction I put out but we do have some volunteers  who can't bear to throw a book out"  so some rubbish  does end up on the shelves.

Isn't that a form of censorship?  Deciding on what non-fiction your customers will have access to?

MingVase

Well if the customers ain't happy then they can go somewhere else, no? They probably do anyway, I think book lovers can't pass a bookshop.