Book me some time

Even if Edinburgh is an electrifying place to live, I've still sometimes struggled to get the deep, warm, good Saturday feeling that used to come very easily in Dublin. Maybe I've just grown lazier, or maybe Edinburgh is just bigger and hillier to get around - or maybe I just haven't found that something that ticks the Saturday box perfectly. Now I think I have, and I'm all the happier for it. In fact, this has potentially been the best weekend here so far, and the sunny and warm spring weather only has some of the credit for it.

One of the reasons: Yesterday I had my first shift in my new weekend job, at the excellent, first class second hand book store in Stockbridge, run by Shelter, a charity for homeless people. My involvement is purely voluntary, non-paid and charitable (in case anyone was worried that I am prone to moonlighting). Or, when I say charitable, I may have to admit that my own motivation is mainly selfish - although Shelter does great work, and I am looking forward to learning more about that too - because this shop is a haven of great finds. There are two charity book stores in Stockbridge, and I have of course researched both extensively. Oxfam is great too, but the selection in Shelter, and the amount of quirky finds available is much bigger. So I expect the new job to be having a substantial negative impact on my wallet, as one of the great things about sorting the shelves means that you find all the hidden treasures, but a very positive impact on my general state of happiness, as well as on the general state of my bookshelves. And on my friends' too - I've already found a cute edition of Grey's Anatomy for my soon-ish-to-be doctor friend, a Geek Chic book for the Skyscanner office (for all of the flight geeks there!) and several other secret gems that I will share with the people soon.

It is a great way to spend Saturdays. Finally, years of organising my bookshelves in various ways as my mood changes (alphabetically, by geographic origin, by theme, by publisher, by size, by colour...) is paying off bigtime. I spent 3 hours tidying books yesterday, and I have rarely been happier. Those are two of my favourite things in the world - tidying and books - and with the additional bonus of wonderful people and a level of conversation you rarely get anywhere else, I think I have found the perfect Saturday engagement. Did you know what the collective noun for starlings is? I didn't (also, I may have mis-heard at first and thought the noun in question was the collective for Stalins...) - but thanks to the wonderful extensiveness of second hand dictionaries, a well educated man in tweed has enlightened me: it is indeed a murmuration of starlings. So there. I am already looking forward to next weekend, and to the vast expanses of knowledge that lies before me in this pearl of a place on Raeburn place. Pop in if you're around!