Time flies.

It's Friday again and I have no idea where the week has gone. Trade is still sluggish so it isn't the rush of customers that has taken the time from under me, it's my new all-absorbing project. Few landmarks of any note along the way, but Miles was by just now to natter and to look for books. He entertained Chloe and I for an enjoyable half hour with tales of his experiences in his butlers' persona. Prince Charles comes out of these tales as a Thoroughly Good Egg.

I've managed to get out and about a bit when Tom comes in to shop-sit, and I had a meal in the closest pub/restaurant with a friend one evening, but it's not the high life exactly. Peaceful would about describe it. Something to be grateful for.

Grudgingly I have to admit the charity shops can sometimes be a fertile field. I found 13 Martha Grimes novels next door for £10.40 which will give me a few evenings of pleasure before I offer them for sale (at a modest profit) again. Also there were some good candidates for the Amazon listings. I've been turning sellers away at the door, but this hand-picking of singles is fun and probably costs me less than buying directly from the owners as I usually feel obliged to give folk at least £1 a book. This isn't a rational policy but it's hard not to meet people's hopes and expectations. With the decline in secondhand bookshops their options for selling their books are shrinking, and the other dealers in the area are as over-supplied with offers as I am, without a doubt, so there is really no need to pay them as much. However I find I am reluctant to put people off in case my meanness becomes an urban legend and I'm not offered the good stuff.

The paranoia demon is standing over me again.

As Britain is now going into a 'difficult time economically' (which careful euphemism must mean a recession) I suppose there will be more and more folk trying to raise a bob or two. Oh dear. The combination of market forces (the internet) and the tightening of belts could be uncomfortable for us tradespeople. The rich will still have money, but not so many of them shop on Forres High Street.