I was happy to see Sandy in the store, with her wife and a
mutual friend. She won't be working next week, so this was our
goodbye, but we have promised to get together for coffee or lunch or
something after the dust settles. She'll be my eyes and ears to how
the new guys are doing, since she plans to volunteer for a bit longer.
We also commiserated on tomorrow's inauguration. She and Wendy are
doing a TV blackout too (though told me I should keep my TV on, tuned to
some station like Hallmark or The Food Channel so if someone is keeping
track of how many TV sets are tuned to election coverage, we will be counted
as NOT being tuned. My god we are sounding like we are living "1984,"
trying to fool Big Brother.
"Pete Seeger" was the first customer. He bought a book
on music and paid by credit card, so I was able to find out his real name.
Several "old friends" came by today and it felt like I was saying goodbye to
each of them. I hope that Bruce stops by next week.
A guy came in with questions about the takeover and if there
would be one more half price sale before Susan and Peter walked away (I
didn't know)
A guy bought a thick French dictionary, a photo book on
whales, and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." He asked
about when the store changes hands and said he'd be in one more time before
the Friends of the Public Library take over.
I had to enlarge this on the scanner to figure out what I
wrote. which was that a tall man in a striped knit cap was looking at the
music section and finally purchased a copy of "Elementary Training for
Musicians."
A middle aged woman wearing a sweatshirt that looked like
that old Partridge Law shirt I burned came in (it had an emblem that said
"Golden Gate Basset Rescue" on it). She asked about volunteering with
Friends of the Public Library and I had to tell her I knew nothing about
what they did and did not need or how their volunteering was going to work.
She talked at great length about the new public library they had built in
Alameda, which she hates and which sounds completely out of place in that
warm, cozy, Victorian-laden town!
A
woman with long straight hair and Michael Straham teeth came in, briefly.
She had a very odd backpack which was split so that it had two satchel, one
on each side. I was just barely able to snap a photo of it as she was
leaving, without making a purchase.
A guy with a beard and "man bun" found two bargain books and
a regular book that came to $6.34 but he didn't have that much cash and the
machine rejected his credit card. He said he'd been having problems
with the card and asked if I could hold the books while he went to his bank
to sort it out. I did. He returned, bought the books (no
problems this time) and then found 3 more bargain books on his way out, so
all in all bought six books--and a bag to put them in.
A guy buys a book on fluid mechanics from the bargain book
section.
Another guy in a beanie and dark glasses was looking for a
copy of Plato's "Republic," but did not find it. I commented that I
had sold a copy of that book last week and he said that it is required
reading for a course he is taking.
My friend came at 4:05 and bought 2 bargain books and a book
of Tea, which had been one of the display books in the window. We
talked about how it was my next to last day and he said he would see me next
week. I will miss him.
Peter's friend Tom, who usually brings Peter a couple of
books each week, brought him a math book and a Mark Twain anthology.
A distinguished man with a neat grey beard bought 2 sci fi
books and asked if we bought them back. I explained the whole "for
charity" policy of the store and how it didn't make any difference anyway,
since we would be gone in a week and it would be up to the Friends how they
handled things.
I was glad to see the Antiquarian, since it is probably the
last time I'll see him. He didn't buy anything today, but we talked
about the change over. Apparently his wife is the treasurer for a
Friends of the Public Library in nearby Roseville. He left telling me
it was nice knowing me. Nice man. I'll miss him too.
John, who reminded me he's "the big Lawsuit fan" stopped by
to say hello. I hadn't seen him in a year, during which time he and
his wife of 14 years have divorced. He says he sees me on Facebook
from time to time and so he knows about "the Trump thing" and told me his ex
wife and their daughter are going to D.C. for Saturday's march.
I was glad that Susan came in early to relieve me because I
had to catch the bus home (Walt was in San Francisco at the symphony).
We naturally talked about the ending of things She also asked if I
would write an article for The Enterprise. My colleague had
planned to write one but she felt that I would do a better job since I was
more intimately involved. Whether the paper will want one at all is
questionable since the lady who writes the business column devoted a lot of
space to the news about Logos just a week ago, but I've written to the
editor to ask what she thinks.
It takes >30 minutes to get home by buy, so I had a chance
to listen to my audio book and then when I got home and checked Facebook, I
learned that Trump has decided to go back on ALL his promises not to cut
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and they are on the chopping block
for the $10 trillion in cuts he wants to make over the next 10 years.
He also plans to defund the National Endowment for the Arts and privatize
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
I think I need to find a bunch of other Erma Bombeck books.
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