Christmas brings love and affection in the form of gifts wrapped in sparkling paper and ribbons, cards filled with meaningful sentences, feasts and delicatessens , decorations and candy canes and sometimes used books too.
This year people didn't think twice about donating a used book because people this year know that the beneficiary does not care about the fact that the book is recycled. The recession put us all in the same boat and we are all way more understanding with each other.
And once the Christmas shopping season is done, I will wrap the entire bookstore and put it under my tree. Yes, you read it correctly: the time has come for me to pack up, let the construction crew do their job and move back in the spring with a complete and extreme make over.
The Pike Place Market is undergoing a major operation of remodeling its guts, a sort of bowel wash, where pipes are being replaced, wires are being reconnected and earthquake life-saver devices are being installed into the walls.
Now it is the turn of the building in which Lamplight books is located.
Once this is over with, I will be glad to know that I will be walking every day into a safer building.
Right now ,however, my attention is completely focused on the fact that I will have to pack and move eight years worth of accumulating books of all sizes, in the time frame of about 10 days during which Christmas eve and day and New year's eve and day are happening.
The movers will move the boxes on the first day of the new year at exactly 5 am so that when the market opens all the trucks are already gone.
And this is the first year that the market decided to be open on new year's day to promote business.
My mother thinks that I misunderstood directions, and I wish she was right.
We have a rhyming saying in Italian that says something like, whatever you do on the first day of the year , you will be doing all year long: So for the year 2011 I will be waking up at ridiculously early times of the day, every day, to move boxes full of books all year long.
Happy New Year to you all, my patient readers, and may your 2011 be light,may you not have to lift too many boxes, may you wake up when you want to, may you live in safe buildings.
peace and love
La prima fatica dell’anno non sarà neppure l’ultima.
ReplyDeleteA fine mese spiccherete il volo transoceanico, tu e i bambini, e so per esperienza che non si tratta di una passeggiata in Rue de Rivoli.
Ti consiglio allora di far ricorso alle tecniche yoga che ben conosci e frequenti.
Potranno alleggerire la tensione dei giorni precedenti il trasloco della libreria e anche aiutarti nel pilotare le creature durante il lungo viaggio.
Dopo…
Dopo non dovrai preoccuparti di nulla, sarai presa in carico da una task force di rutilanti Ivan Drago che al grido di:
“ Io ti spiezzo in due “
spianeranno per un mese il tuo cammino, sgombrandolo di qualsivoglia inciampo.
Potrai così trascendere verso quella condizione di “larva grassa e felice” che è una filosofia agognata prima ancora che requisito esistenziale.
Gianduiotti alla nocciola tonda di Alba, torri merlate di meringata alla panna, chantilly tremolanti e statuari parallelepipedi di bonet si stanno allineando per te sulla rampa di lancio.
Si lasci servire, signorina Felicita.