Casa Rosales

Casa Rosales

Tuesday 16 October 2012

What's in a name?



My sister and I exchanged emails this morning. We try to speak regularly on SKYPE and whilst we could probably speak more often, once we get going, we can easily while away an hour or so without drawing breath. It's good to talk. I miss my sister.

In her email this morning, as well as telling me she was suffering with the cold that hit my mother - I knew it wasn't a Spanish bug - she told me she's off to London for a couple of days tomorrow with some friends. This in itself was no great shock - my sister has a wide circle of friends and is always off somewhere or other with them. What did make my eyebrows shoot up was the fact that she said she hasn't been to London since she came to visit me when I worked at Waterstone's - at a time when Tim W. was still very much in charge, (he interviewed me and gave me the job, making me responsible for the music department in the Charing Cross Road store and for which I will be forever grateful) - and when it still had its apostrophe! The dropping of the apostrophe caused quite a stir at the beginning of the year - though the name remains and Tim has long gone.

As I often do, I'd like you to bear with me on a short detour from the main theme of this post. I'd like to concur with the line in Wikipedia that states that Tim set up a new kind of bookshop, that 'employed a highly literate staff'...the people I worked with at this period were absolutely fascinating and some have gone on to develop further the areas they were interested in during their time at the shop. Jonathan Rich ran the fiction department and went on to write himself, including episodes of 'The Bill' and 'Casualty' and also a drama-documentary for the BBC on Egypt. I have just discovered he is also a voice over artist which doesn't surprise me at all as I remember his wonderful melodic voice very well indeed and having just listened to some of his recordings, I'm blasted back to the past when we worked briefly together on the same floor of the store. Jonathan was a joy to work with, funny, clever, a big softie (hugs on the hour, every hour) with a wicked wit and a real love of music - it's been such a treat to listen to his voice again, even if it's to hear him advertising software solutions and estate agents! I also remember being very fond of a serious chap called Ray Monk, whom I once accompanied to a rendezvous at St. Paul's Cathedral for him to buy a saxophone. Ray ran the philosophy department and is now a Professor of Philosophy at Southampton University with a string of prizes and books to his name - mainly on his abiding interest, Wittgenstein. Elizabeth, who ran the Travel department left to go to Zimbabwe,  Colin, who ran the Health department had been a psychiatric nurse, the 'Saturday' boy was the son of the author Hunter Davies...it was an interesting place to work. (I ran a pretty good music section too.)

Back on track now. At the time, I lived in a place which has also changed its name.  In 1985, Staines-upon-Thames was simply Staines and it was sometime during this year that my sister came to visit. I remember very little about what we did but it must have involved walking into the town centre along Gresham Road several times. I know this because on the last day of her visit, my sister slowed down as we passed one of the buildings on this road and then started to laugh. She laughed so much, she had to sit down on the pavement. She laughed so infectiously that I started to laugh too without having the slightest idea why. When we laugh, we laugh til we cry. So there we were - sitting on the kerb - tears rolling down our faces, unable to speak. Behind us was a building and my sister kept turning round and pointing to the sign, trying to explain why she was laughing but every time she looked at it, she'd start laughing again.

The sign?

THE 
NATIONAL 
DYSLEXIA 
INSTITUTE

Why the hysteria? My sister is only mildly dyslexic (undiagnosed) but all week, as we walked past the building, she had been struggling to decipher the words. On our last trip, she worked it out....

If ever an institute needed to change its name - this has to be it!






14 comments:

  1. And not helped by being all in upper case I suspect.

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    1. I can't confirm this Celia - it may not have been! Axx

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  2. I'll bet it was also printed on a white background and not the regulation pale cream ...

    Interesting post about an interesting job filled with interesting people. Don't think it reflects my local Waterstones!

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    1. I have to admit that I don't remember the sign as it was - it's almost 30 years ago and things have changed a lot since then. All I know is it took my sister a week to work out what it said. And I tell you the absolute truth about Waterstone's then. I loved working there - not all changes are good!
      Axxx

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  3. I like a nice bit of digression (so did Laurence Sterne so you're in good literary company)
    I follow a lovely blog written by (I believe) another former Waterstone's man, Lord Steerforth - here:
    http://ageofuncertainty.blogspot.co.uk
    You might enjoy it too, I think.

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    1. Thank you Nilly - and a great blog you've recommended. I have a had a look and Lord Steerforth sounds a lovely man though I think he was Ottakar's, not Waterstones...I'll keep reading.
      Axxx

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  4. I always longed for a job in Waterstone's ... never got one though. I'd choose a book shop over a yarn shop still, but it would be a much closer run thing these days!

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    1. Now Annie, if you'd told me you HAD worked in a bookshop, I wouldn't have been surprised at all. I worked in three - one in Wimbledon, one in Surbiton and Waterstone's - and only left because I moved away from London. I loved bookselling and it never, ever felt like 'work'. I think maybe there'd be room for a book AND yarn shop...we could be partners!
      Axxx

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  5. I did like Waterstone's as it was ...it was a very civilised place where you would meet interesting people.
    A great refuge after the subscription lending library of which I had been a member for years closed its doors when the local authority put up its rent to astronomic levels.
    Waterstone's couldn't match the open fires or the teacakes...but most of the members foregathered there all the same.

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    1. I wonder which branch you used to go to, Fly? It was a civilised place, even in central London and I am delighted that Jonathan, mentioned above, has been in touch and justified my claims that he was a lovely person. I now know he's been married 18 years and has 3 daughters. And now he's writing an episode of Postman Pat!!
      Axxx

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  6. What a lovely story, Annie. :-) As a former librarian who loved her work, I can so easily imagine the enjoyment you derived from helping people to find just the right book. As for your colleagues, all I can say is wow! Waterstone's was obviously a nursery for a lot of talent.

    Shame about the name change. I expect the apostrophe got dropped because too many people no longer know how to use them. Sigh....

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    1. Working at Waterstone's was a little 'spot in time' looking back over the lengthening years - I was only there about 14 months, I think, but I did enjoy it and it stands out as a happy working time in many ways. Some of my funniest memories, though, are from working at Fielder's in Wimbledon - a place full of characters! It was always a pleasure to make sure people found what they wanted - I think I could have enjoyed being a librarian too!
      Axxx

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  7. The staff in our local Waterstone's have always been wonderful. However it saddens me that the store has become smaller and smaller over the years. Buying from Amazon is just not the same.....

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  8. Mpm, I used to choose the titles I sold from individual publishing reps. - it was the highlight of the month and a real judge of whether you were getting things right! Before Waterstone's, I moved briefly to a new shop where the owner bought from a warehouse and just took a bulk order of their suggested titles..it wasn't the same at all. Even Amazon is better than that! And I know it's sad that bookshops have changed so much. Here in Spain, books are ridiculously expensive in the shops, so as a bookworm (who prefers still to read in English) I am very grateful for Amazon and similar. (Or better still, use the secondhand bookstore that are online now!) Axxx

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