My friend Themis and I always have ridiculous adventures when we catch up. A few months ago we went to an art class, which happened to be in a street that was covered in yarn bombing from head to toe; a few weeks ago we stumbled across the most delicious second-hand and antiquarian bookstore. Today was no different – after having breakfast at The Pantry, I took a wrong turn when I went to drop her home. I just happened to have turned down a street that had a jumble of hard rubbish lining the street. And out the front of one of the houses – A BOOKCASE!
As you probably know by now, I buy way too many books. There are currently piles of books in our study, despite me owning a grand total of four bookcases in the house (although one of them I am supposed to share with Ben, who has a big collection of CDs and vinyls, but I have been hogging more than my fair share of that bookcase too). Three of these bookcases, which are quite deep, has two rows of books per shelf, and despite this, I still have stacks of books littering the floor. So when we spotted the bookcase, Themis said, ‘turn around, Georgi, turn around!’ I swung the car around and we stopped to examine the bookcase. It was the perfect size to firstly, fit in my car, and secondly, fit in a little nook in the study. How convenient!
But wait, there was more!
There was a lovely old-fashioned couch, the type that is all puffy with buttons dotting the back of the chair, and studs all long the arms to join the leather together -but this wasn’t wasn’t in very good condition, and there was no way it would fit the back of my car. There was a table as well, which Themis really liked, and there was also an amazing looking art deco cabinet, with a glass front (with the glass intact) and a wonderfully ornate key. It was beautiful! Themis and I decided I needed to have both.
It was a bit of a challenge trying to get them both in the car – in fact, it just wasn’t going to happen. But lucky for us, the owner of the bookcase and cabinet happened to be taking out his real rubbish (rather than hard rubbish) at the time, and was happy to hold the bookcase inside his fence for us until I could come back. So the cabinet is waiting at Themis’s house, which was around the corner, until I can fetch it, and the bookcase is snug in its new study, already full of books! Ben’s happy, since he now has a bit more room to store his CDs, and I am happy that my books are not loitering on the floor any longer! (I wonder how long that will last…)
It just proves that one man’s trash really is another girl’s treasure.
1001 Children's Books 