In which I almost make an expensive mistake.

Today we went to Birsay Books. I hadn't even been aware that Birsay Books was there, which is a bit sad considering that they told me they had been open since Easter! Anyway, it is as you will have gathered a second hand bookshop although I suspect they would prefer to be called Book Dealers, which is fair enough, and I was alerted to their existence by a friend on Facebook who liked their page.

They claimed to specialise in sci-fi and fantasy and so we thought it might be nice to take Son no 2 over there before we took him back to Glasgow, and to scout it out anyway for future trips ourselves. They have a fine building; the OH tells me it used to be Fluke Jewellery. Orkney being Orkney Fluke Jewellery now takes up half our local general shop in Burray, but no matter ....

They had some very nice stock. Son no 2 came away with several sets of books to do with D & D and some general sci-fi. The OH found  very nice book on the voyage of the Beagle. I drooled (not literally of course) over some books with illustrations by Edmund DuLac before regretfully putting them back on the shelves. Everything seemed quite reasonably priced (even the ones with the DuLac illustrations were reasonably priced for what they were, although this still didn't make them the sort of thing I would purchase without second third and even fourth thoughts) so when, as we were getting ready to pay I saw a copy of Alan Garner's The Moon of Gomrath n a shelf nearby  I jovially told the young man to add it to the pile. He said 'I don't know if you saw our other Garners on the shelves', disappeared around a corner and called out 'we have The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and Red Shift if you're interested.' I said I would love Red Shift and he brought it out, and went over to the till. He then asked me for £95. I nearly fainted. I did manage a not quite screamed 'What?' He started to go through the prices and it turned out that The Moon of Gomrath was a first edition and priced at £60. I hadn't even looked, although perhaps I should have wondered why it was on a different set of shelves to all the other chldrens/fantasy books. I said he could put it back as, although I might like a copy of the book, I didn't want a first edition. He was perfectly nice about it, although I felt an utter idiot. Unease was compounded when his Paypal/WorldPay/whatever card machine failed three times to complete my transaction in a timely manner and therefore self cancelled it, but since they just have a copper wire connection  which lies atop the grass in a field of cows on its way to the relevant power thingy this was perhaps not surprising. It was however very irritting as it took all the cash I had plus some contributions from the OH and son no 2 to scrape up the amount required. I had also bought two rather expensive cards and I suppose if push had come to shove I could have put those back as well, but really I had had enough embarrassment for one day. Thank goodness I had talked myself out of one of the Dulacs, or I would have been forced to dig myself a hole and hide in it. 

I don't honestly know if it was that experience that put me off, but I can't say I would rush back there. There was just something a bit odd about the place...

More cheerfully, in an update to my last I have heard back from the charity I tried unsuccessfully to donate to earlier in the week, thanking me for alerting them to the problem with their Give Now button and giving me an address to which to send a cheque.  And - I found my pattern! It is now safely put away in the bag where the wool for it is being kept, and I am debating whether to start it now or wait until I am back from Glasgow. Given that I have other things on the needles, waiting is currently wining on that one.