This week our dream bookmobile took to the roads of London! We got up at the crack of dawn, slammed an iced coffee, triple checked our inventory, smashed a bottle of expensive campaign against the side, sent a prayer to the prankster fairy folk from the Old Land, and pulled our of our Blackfriars parking spot onto the troubled roads of the city.
Our first stop? The extraordinary Variety Cafe, where we threw open the doors, drank espresso tonic (a thing there), and got royally sunburned on the Woodfield sidewalk. Who cares! We chatted and talked to the real folk of the neighbourhood who make Saturday morning their time, as in walking dogs, or a cat on a leash, twelve cats NOT on leashes, enterprising kids and a bevy of sophisticates wandered about the Dufferin neighbourhood. The Variety Cafe staff were wonderful, making us sandwiches and coffee. Good coffee too! It is a vibrant place and they were swamped (as were we) by the intoxicating coupling of books and caffeinated-brews.
Next, we visited one of our favourite stores in town, Odyssey Records, where owner Justin hung out with us on the sidewalk for a good while, drinking water with us from branded Odyssey pint glasses. The truly weird and wonderful patrons of his shop came onto the bus and bought REALLY smart stuff. Books and records. How can you go wrong? Justin gave us tickets to his 5th anniversary show and screening of Miami Connection at the Palace Theatre on Saturday, July 29th. We marveled at his deeply curated selection of stuff we want (lots of Criterion Collection editions there) and at 3pm we headed to Argyle.
We parked at the East Lions Community Centre where our sunburns deepened. Lots of water. Lots of breaks in the shade. We didn’t have our bus doors open five minutes before a 10-year-old kid ran over and asked, “DO YOU HAVE ANY SCIENCE BOOKS?!?” He headed into the bus and found a pile, including a great astronomy reprint. As he was buying the book (with dad’s permission) Jason said, “You know I was alive when they demoted Pluto from a planet.” “THAT WAS A CRIME AGAIST SCIENCE!” he exclaimed. “I always felt it was wrong,” Jason replied. The boy continued, “I MEAN EVERYONE KNOWS IT’S A PLANET. IT’S SO OBVIOUS. SHAME ON THEM! EVERY TEXTBOOK HAD TO BE REWRITTEN. EVERY DREAM REVISED.” Jason and the boy looked at each other, proudly, kindred spirits across time. “You’ll just have to restore its glory,” Jason said.
What strangeness awaits us this weekend? This is part of the fun. We’ll be at the Westmount Farmers Market on Saturday and the Hyde Park Uptown Market on Sunday. Will the science boy follow us there, continuing the conversation about Pluto’s controversial status? Who will we meet in these London neighbourhoods? Perhaps you will be there, celestial passions aflame. We do hope to see you.
Until then, enjoy these new arrivals.
Much love,
|Jason and Vanessa
P.S. Please note that because we are traipsing around London these days, we’ve made our office By Appointment or By Chance only. If you are going to be in the neighbourhood and need a local pick-up let us know and we can leave your order in our little mailbox out front.
