My Peter Kay book – goes down well with a cup of tea

(Photograph by Sam Rose)

Every so often I come across someone that for whatever reason, makes a part of my day worthwhile and today was one of those days.

My husband was off today so we had been making the most of our day off and went shopping.  I had been planning on getting buying a Kindle for quite some time and today we went in to one shop to have a look as I had seen them advertised there for $110.

As we went to the section where the Kindles were, a young guy asked if he could help us, he looked a bit geeky and had a huge friendly grin and gave us a warm welcome.

‘Can you help me with buying a Kindle please?’ I smiled at him, it was hard not to you see – smile at him, he just radiated something that I could not quite put my finger on.

‘I love actual books personally and have a huge collection’ He said in a fretful voice to nobody in particular – almost as though each Kindle he sold would destroy the lives of the precious paperbacks (who knows, that might happen).

I laughed and agreed that there is nothing like holding a book in your hands, the touch and the smell and losing yourself in the work that someone else has poured their heart, life, soul and imagination in to.

‘You like books too?’ He gasped as though he had come across the key to the ‘secret club’ and then checking to see that no-one was watching, he pulled his phone from his pocket and showed me a picture of his home ‘library’ which I will have to admit, was bloody impressive.

We both stood there and admired the pictures of books neatly organised in Author order, standing to attention waiting for someone to grab them off the shelf and enter their secret world.

‘My God that is awesome, you have heaps of them’ I gasped enviably and felt quite embarrassed at my somewhat poor in comparison pile of books on my bookshelf.

‘And that is just on my book case, you haven’t seen what is on my floor’ He nodded proudly causing my husband to laugh. It was like I had unlocked the key to something but I don’t quite know what, because this guy suddenly became animated and had stepped out of his sales assistant role.

I told him how cheap it is to order second hand books from Amazon UK and even with shipping, still beats the books in the charity shops and how I am currently reading a book on criminal psychology.

‘Oh my God I LOVE stuff like that’ he said looking like he was going to burst and then went on to tell me he loves to imagine what life would be like living centuries ago as in some of the books he has read.

‘I have a book about Jack the Ripper – I haven’t read it yet though.  I would have loved to have taken a peak into those times’ I told him, he nodded happily in agreement.

I explained to him that Facebook has destroyed my ability to focus and read a book and how I was trying to cut down on how much time I spend on social media.

‘I don’t have Facebook or social media’ He said firmly.  I will admit to staring at him as though he had two heads – or even three, I mean NO social media????

He went on to say that for every hour he could spend on Facebook he could be learning something constructive, like last week he learned to make excellent coffee and next week he would learn something else so why waste all that time on Facebook when he could be doing things to better himself? He had a good point, a very good point.

I mentioned that I am writing a book and was on the second draft, I didn’t dare tell him what it was about though – that would just be embarrassing, I mean how can you describe a world of talking dogs that have adult social lives and drink dog beer?  That takes a special person to understand that not to mention a certain sense of humour to ‘get it’.

Meanwhile customers were asking us if we could move as we were blocking their way and I still didn’t have my Kindle – but that didn’t matter because this guy was far more interesting than any Kindle I could have bought or any book I could have read.

‘I wish that I could find a book club local to me’ I said wistfully.  I secretly wondered if he was in a book club of some sort, but saying; that he had so many books that he could probably run his own book club and I most certainly would have liked to become a member of it as well.

Never have I seen someone so young have such a passion for books and reading.  All I will say is that wherever that guy will end up working, I hope it is doing something that makes his face light up like it did today.

After searching in various places, he told us that the Kindle we wanted was sold out and then offered to knock some money off the next (more expensive) model (with a back light which I don’t need – or perhaps I do as my eyesight is crap).

I didn’t take him up on the offer but we thanked him for his help and went somewhere else where it was on sale for $90 and I managed to get a protective case for $24 which was a bargain and you can’t beat a good bargain.

My books are now all downloaded on to my Kindle which is in its new case and is charging in the bedroom and is almost good to go. It takes a bit of getting used to not having a back light but as each time I read a book on my phone I end up on Facebook or chatting on my phone which I am trying to cut down on, that can only be a good thing.

But how glad I was to have met someone like him, a young guy (student?) and obviously very creative. To witness someone become so passionate and animated about something was love was comparable to taking a brief step into their world.

When my book is published I shall go back to the store and drop him off a copy, he may read it, he may not but just to have a place on that book shelf of his would be quite a privilege.

As for my Kindle, well it is nice and all that and modern technology has allowed me to store hundreds of books on to one device which I can carry with me without the weight of actual books.

But if I am honest, if I am really honest, there is nothing like the beautifully designed cover of an actual book, with the promise of a whole new world inside it where the characters are waiting to show you what is happening once you turn that first page.

I love books, the smell of them, the feel of them and especially how something so small can be so powerful to the imagination.

Whether or not Kindle will eventually replace actual books remains to be seen but as long as there are people like the sales assistant I met today, there will always be a secret library somewhere in the world.