  Busy day yesterday. My mother commented that when I'm in a lazy mood, nothing can get me off the sofa and away from my computer or my book... but when I get going, I become what she calls a 'woman of action'. I don't know about that... but I did get a lot done yesterday. All the boring moving house admin stuff, writing letters, pressing numbers and speaking loudly and clearly after the beep...
I also schlepped up Park Street with a carrier bag of books in one hand and another five in a rucksack - if you have never been to Park Street, which I strongly recommend for the shopping, be prepared for it to get pretty sodding steep just when you start to lose your puff.
I arrived red-faced and dishevelled, and looking almost exactly like the sort of person whose textbooks you don't want to buy back for 50% of their value in vouchers. They still did, though. Fifty pounds' worth of book money!! Heaven! Apropos of which, I did give myself a bit of a treat, and visited the Green Leaf bookshop on Park Row. It is the kind of place that bookshops should be, that my bookshop would be if I ran one. It is run as a collective, and stocks all the stuff you can only find a small snooty selection of in Waterstones - LGTB fiction and non-fiction, books on Wicca, on solar-powered houses, on gardening according to the lunar cycle... and a lovely collection of fiction lovingly handpicked by the staff. It's a tiny room, but they find space for an armchair and an enchanting children's section, so that parents can browse undisturbed - it's the kind of place you spend an hour or so in without much trouble, just looking... As ever, I got chatting and ended up walking away with a clutch of new recommendations, which I shall seek out and might share with you later.
Lovely stuff. I must find out where this sort of place can be found in Birmingham, of which I have so far only seen the high street big brand bits in the middle. There must be people like me in a place that size, surely? I found a brilliant present for a person I know who is currently on a personal journey, though - a 'healing words' version of the magnetic poetry kit.
Normally I avoid these things as overpriced and a little redundant - can't you do it with a pad and a pen? Or a computer? But with this I can imagine the recipient being able to look at a new meaningful message they have written for themselves every morning on the bathroom cabinet as they brush their teeth, and on the freezer among the Edinburgh festival magnets as they wash the cats' dishes.
I feel very proud of myself. Well, I have another list of things I ought to do today, but tonight is my indulgent night in - ER, Frasier and two episodes of Sex and the City. I may be a free thinker keen to seek out new independent bookshops but I still love a night of good quality American telly. I am going to make myself a prawn curry (my only miscalculation this month has been to buy a large bag of frozen prawns for use in risottos and things, which usually lasts me months and which I am now going to have to dispose of in two weeks - last night was prawns and fresh veg with coriander cous cous, the night before was garlic prawns with pasta - not bored yet, but I will be), invest in a bottle of wine and chill out after my hard day of doing stuff. Which I must get on with.... bis morgen. 
