On my continuing catch-up quest, we had a sunny day out at Leeds Castle in the middle of April, taking the opportunity to meet up with friends whilst we were there, enjoying a stroll in the gardens, lunch and the first outdoor ice-cream of the season. I was encouraged that this would be a particularly pleasant outing with talk of a recently opened second-hand bookstore in the grounds, and mighty fine it was too. It may have been a slight mistake to go there first, as I spent the rest of our visit lugging round (with kind assistance from others at times) a bag of five hardbacks and a paperback.
It could have been a lot more, given that the bill came to £11 and also that they had almost a whole shelf of Kingsley Amis first editions. Somehow I nobly restrained myself to three, making sure, of course, to bag the signed one along the way.