Melodrama

I had a lovely day looking after a bookshop today.

Think: Pigs in muck, clover, you chose it. I was in my element.

Some great friends dropped by for cups of tea, and the music played.
It was a bit scary when the phone rang, as the books are all antiquarian or, pretty old. And not in the order one has in a modern bookshop. I was a buyer in two books shops and knew where everything was. But this is a different system! I sounded a bit like Ping in Readon's Week. But all shook down OK.

I had a look in one of the books, by Maria Edgeworth, I think. And was amazed by the vivid melodrama on page one.
Can you imagine stories where children are put to work at 12, as Mama is worked to a standstill?
But then again. The times, they are a changing. Maybe this will become the norm again?
Youngsters plucked from their Playstation, and Wiis... and put to work to support the family economy. Can you imagine the wails?
The way they are talking at the moment, it feels like about a year away. Not a penny to spare.

(Mini Rant No 2. They can save a few £million by dropping that idiotic census, for a start. Half the census money would mend all the pot holes. )