4:44 p.m. - 2006-02-18

Book Blitz

Up early this morning I was, or at least for a Saturday morning. Off to a huge city event � the Times Colonist Book Sale (all proceeds going to illiteracy programs in the area)! This has been going on for several years, but I�ve never attended � until today.

I laughed when my husband said he�d agreed to meet his boss and his wife at the venue at 8:15, in order to get in line early for a 9am door opening. Nine A.M. � regular functioning, normal people shouldn�t be out that early on a Saturday morning � unless they absolutely have too.

Once we�d gotten there we couldn�t find a parking space within a decent distance. Finally found a 2 hour spot some 2 � blocks away. We trudge back to find out friends and get in line to find that the line was in fact wrapped around the side, the back, and then the other side of the building all the way back to the front again. At 8:15 in the morning!!!!! What�s the deal with this?

The boss�s wife assured me this was an event that warranted such early eagerness. I was hard pressed to muster the excitement. But upon the strike of the 9am opening and the line moving us closer to our destination � books, upon glorious book awaited my word hungry eye.

In fact, rumour has it that this year had been the highest amount of donated books. Some 400,000 titles to peruse, mull over, sort, comb through. And with the exception of a few �higher valued books� behind a cage � all books were priced for $3 or less. Talk about bargain purchasing.

Once I�d launched into a certain genre, I�d look over the selections finding many excellent treasures. When I got to the point of overwhelmedness I�d move to another genre, and start the process all over again. I believe we stayed for around an hour and a half, finally finding my husband (and boss and wife) we headed for check out.

Seventy-five dollars later, we are the proud owners of several (20 or so) books ripe for the reading.

I took a picture of the collection and posted it in Flickr. I�m not sure if you�ll be able to read any titles, but it is safe to say I�m well set up with fiction for a good long time, and T has enough train books to keep him busy until next year.

After this book binge, we headed to a local downtown haunt for a late breakfast. I also took some pictures from inside this restaurant and posted them with Flickr, but I seriously doubt you�ll recognize them.

Now we�re home and settling in to a relaxed afternoon of �. reading what else? That makes two weekends in a row. How can we top this?