Well, it's a quarter to three.....nearly

I woke up at 12.40 (am), after a couple of hours' sleep, listened to the end of Book Of The Week on Radio 4, & at 1 o'clock decided to do something for a change, instead of just lying in bed listening to the World Service as I usually do. So I went & made a cup of tea, put some bread on to cook in the bread machine, loaded the washing machine, &, after persuading the cats that it was NOT time for breakfast yet, came back to bed & fired up the computer. Had a frustrating time getting connected to the internet, & for some reason my emails are not opening properly, so I thought I'd write something.

Yesterday, (Wednesday), was quite an emotionally draining day.  I was at my 'second' bookshop, the one where I do two days a week.  It looks as though that will be closing, on the 25th of March, unless someone buys it.  All day long customers were coming in, having either seen the Closing Down Sale signs, or having been told the dread news by others.  We started a petition last Saturday, Save Your Local Bookshop sort of thing, & have about 400 signatures so far.  The shop manager thought it would be a good thing to have, so that any prospective buyer can see how much support there is for the shop.  It's very heartwarming to know just how much we are appreciated by our customers. A reporter from the local paper also came yesterday, so there's more publicity, & maybe something will come of it.  People are genuinely concerned about the shop particularly, & about the High Street generally - as in other towns, more & more businesses are closing.  In the three & a half years that I have been working in the town, I've seen a real change in the High Street, & as it's a town that is a real tourist destination partly because it still has a large proportion of independent shops, it's a real concern. From a personal point of view, if we do close, I shall miss my colleagues & customers just as much as those of my 'first' shop.

Anyway, the insurance  documents for our new business arrived in yesterday's post, so now we can go ahead & get our trading licence, so that's another step forward. On Monday, I bought our first books for stock, so I'm beginning to feel like a real business woman!

Now I'd better try & get some sleep, as it's 3am & the alarm will be going off in just over 2 hours' time.  We'll see what the new day brings forth.