Confessions of a samurai bookseller...

A blog, this 'blogosphere'. I don't know, a diary of sorts that everyone reads for the gratification of the author and the readers. I wonder what Tsunetomo would make of it, i doubt approval would be forthcoming. So, with that in mind i'll press on regardless.
    I'm English, so lets start with the weather. Its cold, wet, and entirely disappointing. I have learned over the years that when the news promises us epic apocalyptic snowfall we get half an inch of the damp stuff that makes getting to work a bit iffy 'till you make it to the major roads. Kudos to Nothernshore though, she grasped driving on ice very quickly and managed to stop the car on a rare patch of the shiny stuff without incident. I feel yelling 'pump the brakes!' was totally superfluous on my part, and nobody needed a change of underpants. 
     As you might have guessed, the major crush on my freedom to sit on my bum and do nothing particularly spectacular is that I work in a book shop that we will hither to refer to as 'the book shop' because I might want to complain a bit and slander it, and I'm vulnerable to a good kicking from the faceless corporate owners of said book shop if they read my blog.
                                  Hmm, 'read my blog', i'm getting ahead of myself.  *tap tap* is thing thing on...
Anyway.  Tomorrow is the UK release of the new J.K Rowling book and its probably going to make my little store look like the vikings turned up... if vikings were rabid fans of an uppity teenage wizard with serious sociopathic  tendencies and emotional attachment issues stemming from the death of his parents. Its not that i don't like Harry Potter, its that raving fans unnerve me a bit and having to tell a million of them 'no, we are sold out' might result in either the fans or myself exploding into some kind of paroxysm of apoplectic rage. Perhaps i'll just make a sign ready to hang around my neck when the stock disappears simply saying 'NO'  and weakly point to it while sipping tea to calm my shattered composure.
     Speaking of shattered composure, I get to meet Sensei Alan Ruddock this weekend. He is one of the few people left who trained with O sensi (the founder of Aikido). Theres a short interview with him here : http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/6550/alrud.htm
 and I recommend even non fans of the ArsMartial to have a read. He seems a very honest man, and highly versed in his chosen discipline. I expect to lapse into some kind of self conscious coma and forget even the basic five pins.  Still, looking forward to it with a mixture of boyish excitement and trepidation.