Books, Books, Books

Twice a week we stroll along the seafront to the charity shop where we work which, although it describes itself as the 'Golspie Charity Shop', is run entirely in aid of Alzheimer Scotland. It seems, with our advancing years, a very appropriate charity to work for.

I enjoy the work, not least because it gives me a chance to meet a considerable variety of people. Many are locals, some of whom come in on a fairly regular basis, and some only to offload items which have become surplus to their requirements. Surprisingly, because one would have thought they had better things to do on their visit to Golspie, others are visitors.

The shop is a little like a department store in that it sells a very wide range of goods. The area which I most enjoy is the books which, since Golspie doesn't have a bookshop and only a small public library, attracts a good clientele. The trouble with the books is that far more come in than we can cope with, so I have the sad task of consigning a proportion to the recycling bin. Despite this, the number of books seems to grow and grow, with as many behind the scenes as there are on the shop floor. This morning, as an example, we received around fifty Reader's Digest matching volumes each containing four abridged novels. I have the feeling that the best thing we can hope for is that someone buys them either to look good in a bookcase or, as has recently been suggested, as house wall insulation.

The steady trade in books is an indicator of their continuing appeal, despite the invention of the tablet and other specialised digital book readers. The trade may also be encouraged by the keen prices we charge: all paperback novels are a mere 50p.