When I was working with Simon I had some flexibility on my hours. That was my 'terms'. If working for the boss, being that I'm married to him, then you have some say in what your t&c's are if you work for them. So, my flexi-hours meant I could arrive any time between 10am-10.30am, and then needed to leave by 2.30pm latest. Initially I worked 3 'days' a week, but eventually worked 4 days (2 in the office and 2 from home) and because I could connect from home I usually caught up in the evening and sometimes weekends as well. And the first summer/school holidays, I didn't work, and regretted being so behind when I went back. So the second summer I did work through the holidays, quite flexible, sometimes taking the children in to the office for a couple of hours or so... and then it all ended. (Business bought out, new owners cherry picked essential head-count, and boss's 'part-time' wife not essential!). Hence from October last year I was redundant. Hence I've not worked a full-week for ages.... and it was lovely!
There's more goes on in the Library that you'd imagine. Obviously there's the issuing of books, DVDs and audio books; the 'discharge' of the returns; reservations, queries, computer assistance - you can come into the library and use the computers there free of charge for 1 hour a day. But there's also stock rotation - from the central pool, and also monthly we send books that we've had for 1 year onto the next library on our list, and we receive books from our donor library. There's shelf editing - looking at each book's label to see if ready to be moved on - and in this process you may stumble upon books that might not actually belong to your library, which have somehow found their way onto your shelves and need to be returned to their parent library.
There's community notices to display, competitions to encourage children, school visits, local councillor's drop in with the public sessions, all the health and safety, data protection and other stuff to be observed, and the Friends group who organise events to support the library, keep it's profile up and lobby to keep it open.
There's a good friendly community feel - that's the buzz, the local people using the library know there's a friendly welcome and a place to swop news and keep up to date with what's going on. I learned, for example that the cobbler's/key cutting/trophy shop in Wantage (opposite the Post Office Vaults, off the beaten path, but the place to go...) has now closed. There is another one in a better position, opened last year, lovely shop front, good footfall between the market square and the Sainsbury's car parks.. You'd think the new one's forced the old one to close, but no, the lady reporting the closure and disappointed to report it, was interested to hear from the man (browsing fiction) that the new one is actually owned by the old one. So maybe it was all planned that way...
So, I worked a full week - like this. Monday, 2pm-7pm. Tuesday 10am-12noon, 2pm-5pm. Wednesday (closed). Thursday 2pm-5pm. Friday 2pm-5pm. Saturday 9.30am -12.30pm. 19 hours in total - perfect! That must be why I was very reluctant to get up this morning.. Still, half-term this week, and I'm only working Tuesday and Friday, so quite quiet.
The good thing about working in the library is .... the books! It's bad enough at home. I've got 6, maybe 7 books at my bedside. It's not all bedtime reading. I can really only read one book at once, but I like to look at the books by my bedside and anticipate the pleasure I'll get when I'm reading them. So, being in a library feels to me like an alcoholic in a brewery, or a junkie in a chemist, or a kiddie in a sweetshop. I've got my eye on a few, you know what I mean.
But I'm a slow reader. In that I savour the page, and sometimes re-read just to enjoy the author's skill, the delight in the language chosen to evoke whatever the storyline is at that point, or just to enjoy the joke again, or if it's a difficult passage then to get the sense better, to understand and absorb the plot, the characterization and the description....
So even a slim book, say 200 pages, will sometimes take me a month to read. Which is why I usually purchase the paperback (normally in charity shops), rather than borrow from the library, as the 3 weeks isn't enough. I know I can renew, and now I'm working there it's going to be so easy.
So, I finished the second part of the Regeneration trilogy (by Pat Barker) - The Eye in the Door, and I've reserved the final instalment - The Ghost Road. Strong stuff, visceral, and informative, about the balance the psychiatrist has to find between the WWI soldier's mental health after shell-shock, and the need to pass them fit and return them to the front. This second one a bit political as well, with references to actual scandal at the time, which was a bit convoluting but served it's purpose. Looking forward to receiving the final part.
That's it for now. Tired, and I want to read my book... Keep it sweet. Kat :)
No comments:
Post a Comment