Location Location

I've changed the location on my profile to Auckland, New Zealand. I can't find any other way to search for people who actually live there and write blogs from there. I wanted to find out a bit more about those people on the other side of the world because I'm meant to be going there in two weeks time (with Mr Pie on my knee for the 24hour flight). Although, with the volcanic ash situation showing no sign of blowing over, it could be that a cyber Kiwi experience is as close as I'll get...

Studio London

It was exactly a month ago that I was phoned by Studio London and told that I had won a "magazine-style photoshoot". You can read all about it all below, in my post 'May their ears fall off'.

For a week or so after wrangling with them on the phone to extricate myself from this daft/sinister arrangement, Mr Q and I were fascinated by the wickedness of these people. Mr Q went right to their door at 120 Great Portland Street to establish that they really did exist and to talk loudly on his mobile (to put the frighteners on them).

I, meanwhile, told many people about my folly. It amazed me how much everyone else knew about this kind of scam. "Haven't you ever heard of NLP?" asked my sister. 'Neuro-linguistic programming' - it frightens me more than any ouija board. And my friend Moonbeam rolled her eyes and told me fondly about rescuing her mother from an online scam for a holiday.

The marvellous news is that - after threatening Studio London with The Law - my deposit was returned! It was even returned within 10 days, true to their word. But there was still a bit of funny business: in reply to my email - with its attachment of a letter quoting the Distance Selling Regulations 2000 - I got this (by accident, I assume):

Hey ya,

Does this
stand? I spoke to Craig earlier & he seems to think that we can still use
the ‘leisure’ thing! ?????? Sorry really cannot remember the technical term!
xxx

Regards,

Bookings Team
Studio London

The 'leisure' thing, eh? ?????? indeed! I'll waste no more juice on them, dear reader.

And another thing...

Do you get a smile when you shop on Amazon? Or to look at it the other way up, does your local bookseller try to press on you the tempting news that 'people who bought that book also bought these other ten?' (Change bookseller if they do!) Or, as Robert Crampton - go Red Bob! - put it in his Beta Male column in the Times magazine recently, "customers who viewed this also viewed that, if you like Ecstasy you may well like crack cocaine... Some people might find these suggestions helpful. I don't."

No, the local bookseller never does the hard sell. He does smile, though, in a way that says, I'm glad you stopped by. And guess what? He can also give you directions to Roundwood Park on a hot April afternoon. So you don't need to look it up on your iPhone or nuffink.

Of paper and vinyl

Sorry to bang on about books, but what with the psycho-geography of the Kilburn High Road (a.k.a. the Main Artery of Kilburnia) getting utterly ripped up this week in the wake of the bookshop's closure, I find the topic is still foremost in my mind. Sorry, also, to be lazy and simply copy out someone else's words, but they are quite touching - and they purport to come from, of all people, Zadie Smith's mum, Yvonne.

"The closure of The Kilburn Bookshop is indeed the saddest of news. It is true that I used to take daughter Zadie and sons Ben and Luke there on an almost weekly basis. All three have a massive love of books and I sure that The Kilburn Book Shop was a massive inspiration. The shops owner positively encouraged small children to sit on the floor and leaf through the books rather like they were in a library. To me, there is nothing more beautiful than standing and looking and shelvings of books. Browsing in a bookshop and purchasing new books is just a great thrill. Bookshops do not have distractions. They have books, so no danger of me coming out with some horribly expensive item that I really don't need. Frankly I don't really care how cheap books are on the internet. I prefer to go into my local bookshop and look, leaf through and buy what I want. I and all my children, friends, neighbours are keeping everything cross that the sister shop, The Willesden books shop does not go the same way. I am positive that bookshops will return to our high streets once this recession is over."

God, I hope she's right about that prediction. Someone else in the Telegraph comments section compared paper books (i.e. not i-books or blogs or whatever hi-tech faffery is hip) to vinyl records. They meant this in a gloomy end-is-nigh way, but to me it's a heartening thought, in its way. Vinyl is, to my ears, the best sound bar none and I'm absolutely bloody jubilant that I can't take it for a jog or use it for a ringtone.

On that note, I've added a blog to my 'Go see!' list: 17 Seconds is my brother-in-law's blog. He likes vinyl so much, I'm always braced for the news that their flat has finally collapsed into the flat below, under the weight of all those records.