Laughter is my therapy of choice. And as you know, I’ve needed plenty of that while we’ve been in London. After the disappointment of Sunday’s so-called “comedy” (and I am making those quotation marks with my fingers), I found a good laugh in an unlikely place yesterday: the library.
Having read Vikram Seth’s beautiful Two Lives not so long ago, I decided to try another of his literary masterpieces. It was not available in our library, so they ordered it from another library. I got a letter last week, telling me my order was ready for collection.
I went off yesterday to collect my book. I walked up to the counter in the library and said, “I’ve reserved A Suitable Boy, and I received a letter last week to say it was ready for collection.”
The delightful young librarian behind the counter looked at me, cocked his head slightly and said, “We don’t deal in suitable boys,” and then added, sotto voce and conspiratorially, “we’re a library.”
He offered me my choice of unsuitable boy but I wasn’t too interested!
So, with the help of a forklift, he brought the hefty tome over to me. I had no idea I could read and build muscle at the same time, but I have now begun a new, hard cover relationship with 1,474 pages of Indian fiction. I think it’s going to be a very long relationship.
A laugh in a London library while lugging literature. Therapy doesn’t come better – or cheaper – than that!
A less-wordy-than-usual-and-definitely-always-less-wordy-than-Vikram-Seth Sunshine signing off for today!
Sunshine in London 
LOL! You would probably appreciate Todd Pack’s post today…pay special attention to the part about cats or dogs…
http://toddpack.com/2010/09/14/playing-tag/
Hugs,
Wendy
Thanks, Wendy – I’ll go and have a look!
Sunshine x
Hi Sunshine! Thanks so much for stopping by 36×37 today. I came by to return the favor and ended up reading post after post, laughing aloud in my office for the whole of my lunch. “We don’t deal in suitable boys.” Hahaha. Thank you for adding to my Anglophilia! I hope you don’t mind–I’ve added you to my blogroll because I just don’t want to lose track of you.
Thank you so much! I’m so glad my blog made you laugh – that makes my day, as does the fact that you’ve added me to your blogroll. Fabulous, and I’ll return the favour!
Sunshine x
Wish our librarians had a sense of humour too . . .
It was such a pleasant surprise for me, I must say!
Oh you take me back, remind me of that English sense of humor, so very different to that here in the US and the system of ordering and receiving a letter, here it’s all done with your online library account. What a different world. I enjoyed reading your post.
Thank you – glad you enjoyed it! I love the English sense of humour!