Brown Books had been flooded out by faulty plumbing from the flat above and there was so much damage they needed to pack up the salvageable stock ready for a move to new premises next week. So of course GoodGym offered our services to help with the packing. We had no idea how many books there would be, and as we soon ran out of boxes, while Musa carried on packing with help from our ally Hussain, Gill and Omar took turns to go in search of more cardboard boxes: we begged them from other shops and even went diving into recycling bins to retrieve flattened boxes which were then reconstructed back at the shop. Laura joined us and was soon busy packing up great works of literature including a lot of play scripts.

2 and a half hours later, with a mountain of 📚 book boxes 📦 piled up in the centre of the shop, we’d had an intensive upper body workout. With no more boxes available the lights were switched off and Gill locked up

It was my second visit to Mrs J, and she seemed very happy to see me. She offered me a cuppa, then said I was probably too busy, but never one to turn down a cuppa, I was soon in the kitchen helping her to make a brew.

We then settled down to put the world to rights. Mrs J is a very independent woman and it was great to hear all about her many memories.