Going to Town
Jan. 17th, 2011 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienI went into town today, for the first time this year. While I was waiting for the bus, I was wondering whether it would be worthwhile calling the Public Transport Executive about the non-functioning electronic display. It's supposed to indicate the ETA for the next couple of buses, based on GPS if available or the schedule if not, but this one was installed the summer before last, came briefly to life some time in the December just past, and then crashed and has displayed an error message since a couple of days after that. On balance, I thought, they probably already knew. Then, as I was still waiting, a workman turned up. He opened a panel, flipped a breaker ... and the display went dark and wouldn't come on again. He concluded that there must be something wrong with the electrics of the shelter (and didn't disagree with my suggestion that water in the works would be a likely cause) and said he'd have to inform the PTE, as that isn't his department.
Among other errands, I obtained a library card at the Central Library; this was a fairly painless process, taking about ten minutes. The main lending-library room seems smaller and less full of books than I remember it from my teens, but the shelves are the same, and even the plastic labels pointing out that novels are shelved alphabetically by author don't seem to have changed in the last forty years or so. The computer stations seemed to be much more popular than the bookshelves, however. Their SF&F section is about half the size of my private collection, but not entirely a subset thereof, and I was delighted to find a copy of Barbara Hambly's Blood Maidens, which seems to have sold before it was released and not been reprinted [Edit Except that Amazon UK does seem to have a few copies now ...]. (That was under Horror, not SFF, but still.) It's a good thing my handbag is fairly capaious; it's been so long since I used a public library that I'd forgotten they don't provide carrier bags!
I also found some glue to mend my broken eagle-wing, discovering in the process that WHSmith actually has beads -- but only in the form of overpriced kits.
The Winter Garden has hyacinths and cyclamen and primulas, almost enough to make me regret not taking the camera -- but if I had, the carrying of the library books would have been even more of a problem.
Among other errands, I obtained a library card at the Central Library; this was a fairly painless process, taking about ten minutes. The main lending-library room seems smaller and less full of books than I remember it from my teens, but the shelves are the same, and even the plastic labels pointing out that novels are shelved alphabetically by author don't seem to have changed in the last forty years or so. The computer stations seemed to be much more popular than the bookshelves, however. Their SF&F section is about half the size of my private collection, but not entirely a subset thereof, and I was delighted to find a copy of Barbara Hambly's Blood Maidens, which seems to have sold before it was released and not been reprinted [Edit Except that Amazon UK does seem to have a few copies now ...]. (That was under Horror, not SFF, but still.) It's a good thing my handbag is fairly capaious; it's been so long since I used a public library that I'd forgotten they don't provide carrier bags!
I also found some glue to mend my broken eagle-wing, discovering in the process that WHSmith actually has beads -- but only in the form of overpriced kits.
The Winter Garden has hyacinths and cyclamen and primulas, almost enough to make me regret not taking the camera -- but if I had, the carrying of the library books would have been even more of a problem.