The Loneliness of the Long Distance Book Runner Read Online Free Page B

before or after his time as a student.
    I do the deed before learning several months later that the Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition, 1911, is considered to be one of the most collectable. Damn. I discover further that it is a much sought after edition; the first to be published as a whole set at one date. It is seen as the most scholarly edition, with contributions by over one thousand authors writing in their fields of expertise. All have an abundance of illustrations including numerous foldout maps in both colour and black and white.
    I confess to my ignorance and this act of vandalism.
Sunday Morning, Sète, 1997
    We have come to the sea to taste tielle – a small spicy pie of octopus in tomato sauce – and show the children the water jousting tournaments in Sète harbour. Since the beginning of Sète, the men have practised a spectacular type of combat, which has been passed on through the centuries: jousts. Standing firm on their plank with the bowsprit overhanging the boat with its team of oarsmen, these knights, as they are called all along the banks of the Etang de Thau, brave one another with only a wooden shield and lance for protection. The tip ofeach lance is fitted with a triple steel point. The aim of the competition is to knock one’s rival into the water.
    The spectacle is yet to begin so I can’t resist a ‘really quick, I promise’ visit to Sète’s Les Puces , a scaled down version of Montpellier’s complete with the North African influence. The family is keen to return to the harbour so I can’t mess about. In jumping from car to car, I pick out some tatty green Penguins – crime titles – in a pile of mostly French books dumped in a higgledy piggledy fashion beside an equally disordered pile of clothing, much of which will be discarded when the market closes at midday. In rummaging about, a red hardback by P.G. Woodhouse, lacking its dust jacket, comes to the surface. Love Among the Chickens , 11th printing. It’s in a pretty parlous state but my enthusiasm is rekindled when I open it to find an inscription on the title page: To Joseph Wilkels in memory of a delightful two months at the Picardy. P.G. Wodehouse Sept 10 1934 referring to his stay at The Royal Picardy – Le Touuet-Paris Plage.
    This will sell it.
     
    Built upon and around Mont St Clair, Sète is situated on the south-eastern hub of the Bassin de Thau, an enclosed salt water lake used primarily for oyster and mussel fields. To its other side lies the Mediterranean. We eat some of its food after the ‘jousting’ entertainment. Before leaving Sète, we visit Cimetière le Py and find the tombstones of Georges Brassens, singer and songwriter, and Paul Valéry. Best known as a poet, Valéry is sometimes considered to be the last of the French symbolists. Anne tells me about ‘Le Cimetière marin’, a poem based on Valéry’s musings by the Mediterranean where he spent his boyhood.

    Ce toit tranquille, où marchent des colombes,
    Entre les pins palpite, entre les tombes;
    Midi le juste y compose de feux
    La mer, la mer, toujours recommencée
    O récompense après une pensée
    Qu’un long regard sur le calme des dieux!
    This quiet roof, where dove-sails saunter by,
    Between the pines, the tombs, throbs visibly.
    Impartial noon patterns the sea in flame –
    That sea forever starting and re-starting.
    When thought has had its hour, oh how rewarding
    Are the long vistas of celestial calm!
    (Distance travelled: 70-mile return trip. Profit (two years later): 1350 francs, sold through abebooks.com on account of Wodehouse’s inscription. Fact learned: Business can be mixed with pleasure, sometimes.)
Decision Time, Twickenham Bedsit, 1989
    A single duvet on a double bed. It means that Jennifer has left. Eddy sees this but averts his gaze out of a nebulous notion of decency. Partly to put distance between us and so mitigate the mutual discomfort, I am making coffee in the kitchen area. The relationship has partly defined me for