Book Sale Day

I was up very early today - 6.30! I had to be at the book sale at 7.45 so had to leave at 7.30 to get there. Fortunately there wasn't much on the roads at that time so I made it quite easily.

I couldn't believe it when I got to Bethlehem there were people waiting on the pavement, some had been there since 6.45 and were sitting on chairs outside when Lois arrived. A bit like the dealers at car boot sales in the UK.

We went in and were given our instructions for the day and then the doors were opened and it was like a rugby scrum. People swarmed in with boxes and small cases on wheels and soon filled them up. There were tow separate couples who obviously had book shops or stalls and they bought so many. One couple spent $200 and the other just under $1000. There was a steady stream of people until I left at 11.30 so it looked like it was going to be a big success.

I dashed home and got changed and Jon took me over to the Classic Flyers for the Red Cross lunch. Most people were already seated when I got there and fortunately Les had saved me a seat. I was looking forward to a glass of wine when Les told me that no alcohol was allowed. A silly idea if you ask me. Surely everyone should be responsible for themselves after all the average age was at least 60 so nobody was going to get drunk. Red Cross say they can't be held responsible so we couldn't drink. I'd have driven myself had I known that!

We started with the local MP giving a talk and he was soooo boring. It was more like an election talk. They then had presentations and by now I was really hungry - breakfast was a long time ago. We finally started to eat at about 1.30. We had lasagne and salad followed by some very nice cakes and chocolate sweets. Then some children came and sang Christmas Carols in Maori and listening to Silent Night and Jingle Bell Rock in Maori was lovely. As lunches go it was not the best but it was interesting to meet the other volunteers that I don't get to work with.

Jon came to pick me up and we went to look for some short sleeved shirts for him and we also bought a nice new bed for the dog.

Back home we had a cup of tea and then took Totty out. I hasn't been very good weather wise this afternoon and was still overcast and windy.

We had some good lamb chops and salad for dinner.