On Saturday it was a lovely day so rather than stay inside, I wanted to go and explore a bit.

One of the things I like to do is to visit second hand bookstores and I found out that there was one in the quaint suburb of Canterbury.

Our first stop was to the Canterbury Book Store which was tiny however it was clean and full of books that were in surprisingly good condition, cheap and all in alphabetical order. Andrew and I spent a bit of time in there perusing the shelves and speaking with the owners who only use cash for transactions. Bonus!

We came away with a stack of books all $2 each so I’m looking forward to reading these.

I was asked by someone “what do you do with all your books?” I think they meant that there comes a time when you just have too many. 🤔

Well, I will give them back to second hand bookstores. Already I’ve started giving them away to people too. Or leaving them in public free borrowing libraries preferring to keep only the books that have inspired or enchanted me.

Some I can’t give away as I’ve scribbled all over them and they are book marked, tagged and there’s marginalia in them. If I give that book away, they get a piece of my life in scribbles too and an insight into the way I think through my pen scrawls.

Who knows? Maybe in 2167 someone will find all my books with these scribbles and piece together through them, my journals, my blog, my videos, an entire life in writing? 🤔

Afterwards we walked down Maling Road which still has the original Al facades of the buildings from early 20th century to the 1940s. There’s a lot of boutiques and cafes to wander and sit at to look at the world go by.

I loved this sign at the butcher’s store. Original hand painted sign writing – non-computer aided stick on lettering – on the window (which you don’t see that often) and the old illuminated sign from the 1950s. And look at that old chalkboard!

The post office has the original sign work of the three major newspapers before 80s. You can only just see them below the corrugated flat roof.

The Herald; The Sun and The Age. I grew up with these three papers. Certain people and groups of people read each of them. My parents hardly ever bought the Age but there was always The Herald around.

Now, we have the Herald-Sun and the Age – and I can’t remember any recent time I read either.

Making Road and Canterbury is one of the most expensive suburbs in Melbourne. Take a walk through its green leafy streets and you’ll see beautiful old homes from the 19th and early 20th century with tall gabled rooves, widows lookouts and chimney stacks. (That’s what made an impression on me looking at the rooves – these houses have FIREPLACES!) There’s no way we could afford living in such homes here as no doubt, they’re passed on through the generations.

We wandered through the antique store looking for more books but these were far older, dustier hard cover books of literature, classics and poetry. Opening a few of them made me sneeze so instead we wandered around looking at the various trinkets. (I saw a heavy steel door opener that was Tintin and his little dog Snowy for $89 that I considered buying but……argh. No I didn’t).

After all the book perusing, it was time for a coffee and something to eat. I hadn’t had scones in ages so I enjoyed eating a massive scone with jam and cream before returning home to sweep up the outdoor garden then settle down and read my books.

What a wonderful Saturday!