Well that’s not quite how the song goes, but sing it anyway.
My previous post proved overly optimistic regarding book donations: it is proving too complicated to arrange drop offs, and so I am afraid we won’t be taking any further donations of books until we reopen on 12 April (God willing…). Not too long to go, if you can hold onto your books until then, but if you can’t, I am afraid you will need to find another destination for them.
Stay safe! And protect each other.
Well, we were due to reopen tomorrow – Monday 4 January – after our Christmas break, but of course we are now in tier 4, so we have to remain closed until that changes. I have yet to decide if I will be furloughed or if I will try to run some sort of business online and via local deliveries, but furlough is the most likely – I will make that decision today. I don’t think we can really operate without being open.
Here’s hoping we won’t be closed for too long, but maybe hibernation will be good for all of us, and we can sit out the coldest weeks and avoid the virus as much as possible! Thank you so much to those who have bought books and attended art talks and brought donations between the lockdowns, and generally given lots of encouragement. Every message means a lot! Each lockdown is a bit tougher, but my thoughts are with those on the front line, those suffering and those separated from loved ones, especially those who have relatives in care homes and hospitals whom they can’t visit. I am luckier than many! As long as I can pay the bookshop rent we will be OK, though I do need some income too, but for now, and with some government financial support, both I and the bookshop are just about OK.
I did some little live videos on Facebook each day in Advent, with a book recommendation each day, so if you missed those and want to catch up, head over to our Facebook page and look for ‘videos’ – I don’t think you need to be on Facebook to watch them, they should be public. I may do a few more little videos if lockdown carries on, just to keep in touch! But we are not selling any books for now, and I may be even less prompt at answering bookshop emails if I am furloughed.
Meanwhile it’s Sunday, so I am off to make some lunch and watch Columbo. Happy reading everyone!
Victoria
I meant to post a link to the personal website I have been using while the shop is closed, and I forgot. In case anyone is interested, you can find it here! You can even see videos of me in my pyjamas with lockdown hair (I cut it all off short one day near the start of lockdown). I can’t remember what I talk about, but it all seemed important at the time. I am in the process of making the most important one yet!
You’ll find details of Kenilworth Reads there, my attempt to get people in the town to read the same book, but I have failed to get my act together – there is still time!
I am waiting to see what the Human Haystack (aka our esteemed Prime Minister) says at the next lockdown review, in terms of reopening the bookshop. If I do open in June, it will be on Saturdays only, as I work out how to do it as safely as possible, and the proceeds from those days will go to my fundraiser to help musicians, who have lost everything and seemingly for some time to come.
Anyway, just checking in – thank you to those who have missed us! I hope everyone is OK and managing lockdown and hope to see some of you before too much longer. I was really struggling with the physical side of the shop before we closed, but I now have a mobility scooter, so life is and will be a bit easier! You may see/have seen me zooming around town on it.
Stay safe, stay well, keep reading.
The bookshop, as you know, closed a couple of weeks ago, and I thought I would be able to carry on with some online things (including our Cicero Boxes), but we are now ceasing trading all together during the current crisis. The Tree House is a limited company, and I am employed as its director; for the last 12 months I have been able to join up to PAYE and pay myself a small monthly wage. My accountant has suggested that I should be furloughed, and so henceforth I am indeed on furlough, which means the company has ceased trading completely. So no more Cicero boxes, and no more web posts for now. We are also eligible, as a small retail business, for a government grant, and so I hope that in due course we will open again, along with all our high street neighbours in Kenilworth. But I am not allowed to post on social media or here, as that implies the company is still operating. I will be setting up a personal website, where I can post bits of art history and blog about books and music, and I will post a link here when I have done that.
I leave you with the song that Bob Dylan recently gifted to us – a song he wrote and recorded a number of years ago but has never released until now. It is partly about the assassination of JFK, but really it’s a hymn to 20th century American culture and the need for music in dark times and, written well before Trump came to power, it strikes me as a powerfully anti-Trump statement too. It’s 17 minutes long and utterly glorious. Listen to it several times, listen to the lyrics, and it will soon have you under its spell. There’s no one like Bob.
Well that went well, didn’t it! I did think restrictions on movement were coming, but went ahead anyway. In light of the government edict, we won’t be able to do our book deliveries and mail order parcels. However, I think we can still do our Cicero Boxes, and this is the perfect time of year to order one. This is our monthly subscription scheme: two second-hand novels, a few flower seeds from Higgledy Garden, a bookmark and some sort of treat in the post each month. £10pcm inc P&P. Bargain! And April is prime time for sowing flower seeds.
Why can I do this but not the other? Well, I can go and retrieve a stock of books from the bookshop and at just two books per person, it will be easier to manage. I can print off postage labels here and go to a post box as my daily exercise or food shop without having to go into a post office, as the boxes I use fit through a letterbox.
Normally I charge extra for a one-off box, but I won’t be doing that during this strange period. So if you would like a box, let me know – contact form below. Easiest just to do that in the first instance, and then we can discuss further details in email (you can still give me ideas about the sort of books you like/don’t like). Also makes a lovely gift for a friend or relative you might not be seeing for a while. The seeds can be grown in pots and windowboxes if you don’t have a garden.
A word about Higgledy Garden. This is a wonderful little company – really just Benjamin Ranyard and his Viszla hound Flash, who live on a narrowboat. They have a bit of help now from one or two others, as the business has grown. Ben sells British flower seeds, and gives guidance on growing them, to create lovely cut flowers in your garden – though you don’t have to cut them of course! Do have a look at the website, it’s lovely.
And why do I call them Cicero Boxes? Well, Cicero, the great Roman orator, said that if you have a garden and a library, you have all that you need. I think he forgot the single malt, but maybe that was assumed. According to a Classicist friend, he actually said ‘a garden IN a library’, which sounds amazing, but no one quite knows what it means. Maybe he had a very big library. Anyway! That’s why.
Get in touch below for any further info – or look at the Cicero Boxes tab, and ignore the bit about the different price for a single box.
Stay safe people! For me, three weeks of enforced staying at home is a gift, but I am very lucky, as someone who lives alone, has a garden and is a natural introvert. I know others are not so lucky in many ways. But reading books and growing flowers are lovely things to do during a crisis.
Bob Dylan reading (photo: Heaven’s Door whiskey)
Hello all – hope everyone is OK. What a strange time. That sounded flippant – I genuinely hope everyone is coronavirus-free. We have now closed our doors until the shenanigans are over, but until the nation is put into lockdown, we can still provide a few second-hand books to see you through confinement and isolation.
COVID-19 (sometimes incorrectly written CORVID-19, which alarms me: the crows and magpies in my garden seem cross enough, I don’t want them to think we are blaming them for this too) is a major challenge for all of us, and I think is showing us all sorts of interesting things about ourselves and our society – some bad but also some very good. And I hope it will at least force us all to slow down and think about our priorities, our sense of entitlement, how much we take for granted, how much we have in so many ways, and how to treat each other better all the time, not just during a crisis. It is heartbreaking to close my little business without knowing when we will reopen, but it has to be the right thing to do as a means of keeping us all a bit safer.
George Harrison reading about Bob Dylan
But what is lengthy isolation without plenty to read? And we will still have bills to pay. So until we are forced into full lockdown (I do love all the terminology!). we can offer a few second-hand books to keep you going. We can deliver within Kenilworth, and we can post further afield.
Nick Cave reading
Who knows how long we can offer this, but we’ll keep going as long as we can. I am also planning some online things, so keep an eye on the website or sign up to our mailing list (see tab above) if you’re not already on it and would like to stay in touch.For local delivery, we are planning on £5 for three novels, £10 for a bagful, £8 for a bagful of children’s books. These will be books that we choose, though you can give us ideas of the sort of thing you like (and don’t like) and if we have specific titles you want, obviously we can include those. Best thing is to get in touch by email or via the box below and we can deal with any particular requests.
Stay safe, everyone, and keep reading!
Nick Cave perfecting his ‘Go away I’m reading’ face – my resting face.
The Tree House Second-hand Bookshop 