VALENTINE'S GIFT FOR MR. HCB?

We decided to go to the library this morning to get some more books as we have really enjoyed the Jeffrey Archer trilogy, and Mr. HCB said he would then take me out for coffee.  We had to park a little way from the library and walk, which didn't bother us that much, except it was very windy and then started raining, but we battled on.

Passing a newish Tattoo Shop on our way, I saw this in the window, so asked Mr. HCB if he would like an electric tattoo as a Valentine's gift - I won't tell you what he said, but I think it was a "No"!  He had already told me that he hadn't bought me flowers, as he was growing lots in the greenhouse, so you can see how much we celebrate this day, but of course, that doesn't mean we don't love each other!

In the library, we quickly found several books each, without leaving the ground floor, so we were happy.  We then bumped into Richard, someone we hadn't seen for several years, but who has now retired, and volunteers in the library one morning a week.  He said that it was desperately quiet in there and he hoped that people would soon start coming back.  We told him that we had only just started borrowing books again, and were enjoying the experience, but said we noticed how quiet it was too.

By the time we came out of the library, it was raining quite hard, so we decided not to go for coffee, but came home instead and had a cup of coffee sitting in our conservatory, which was better and much cheaper - and of course, we both had a good look at the new books we had borrowed from the library.  As I said to one of the library assistants, not much housework will get done for a while - at least, not while we have some good books to read - and as Quentin Crisp once said, “There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.”  I'm happy to go with that - two down and two to go!

"Libraries store the energy
     that fuels the imagination.
They open up windows to the world
     and inspire us to explore and achieve,
          and contribute to improving
               our quality of life."
Sidney Sheldon