....a very large ute load of old books - WHeeeEEE!!!!!
The Lifeline Bookfair is a mammoth event - it's held twice a year over 3 days (today was day one) at the exhibition centre on the outskirts of the city - inside the large pavilion about 150 000 books are organised into general categories, laid out on trestle tables. There seemed to be almost as many people trying to wind their way around the tables - all with that rather distinctive glazed expression worn by the determined book hunter.
I made a beeline for the 'sets' sign.... and claimed the entire table of weird old encyclopaedias, weird newer reference books and a couple of prizes (a 5 volume reference set of art for $30 - bargain!). I then decided this seemed as good a place as any to set up camp - and leaving my daddy in charge of the booty ('guard them dad - growl at any interlopers - grrrrrrr') I made scurried trips to the other tables to bring back more claimed goodies (a monster medical dictionary, well ok 2 of them, a huge atlas, the complete works of shakespeare....) There aren't many times when being a short, determined, fast moving female is an advantage - fortunately trawling the tables of the Lifeline Bookfair is one of them!
In no time at all I had amassed quite a pile - and soon I was given my very own Lifeline volunteer.... who almost as quickly had decided that I was quite possibly absolutely certifiable (I made the mistake of telling him - 'oh no - I don't read them - they're for my ARRRRRRRT')
It took the lovely Lifeline volunteers some time to tally up all my finds - then it was time to load up the ute and head back home - happy in the knowledge that my purchases will go to fund the numerous projects undertaken by Lifeline.... ahhhh I feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside (or maybe it's just residual car sickness...)
***oooh and in case you are worried - these books aren't destined for a fiery end.... and that's all I'm saying about their future fate at this point.....
I did laugh when I read about the short, determined person...a few years ago, at the local University sale, I actually crawled under a table to get to something I wanted.Yes, perhaps being short does have (some)perks!
ReplyDeletefantastic haul!
ReplyDeleteI love that glazed determined look we all get -- I walked up to a table and started flipping through the stack and didn't realise until a hand was waved in front of my face that I was standing next to my husband and my friend! They said I'd looked scary. well, it's a safari in there...