Among The Stacks

[poliphilo]

Baggins in Rochester claims to be the largest second-hand bookshop in the country. I don't know if that can be substantiated but it certainly covers a lot of floor space- stretching back to the depth of four rooms (I think that's right but I may have miscounted)- with staircases you could easily overlook, tucked in among the stacks. It's very like the bookshops I wander through in my dreams.

We bought the set of Dickens we'd seen in the window. It's the biographical edition from 1907- in 21 volumes- with all the original illustrations- and introductions by Arthur Waugh, Evelyn's dad. It's in good condition- except that Pickwick has some torn pages. They were asking £100 less than the price I was thinking we'd have to pay.

While I was searching through the stacks (picking up four volumes of Denis Wheatley, a copy of Beau Sabreur and a first edition of Mary Renault's Mask of Apollo) Ailz was sitting in the front shop with her phone, looking at house prices. Rochester has a cathedral, a castle, a river, a characterful high street, the nation's biggest bookshop and easy access to London and the M25. Above all, it's cheap. We couldn't afford an apartment with a river view in a fashionable town- like Lewes, for example- but we could in Rochester. It bears thinking about.

Comments

[poliphilo]

Every town has its down sides. Is there anything wrong with Rochester that's out of the ordinary?

[cmcmck]

In normal times, the weekend booze culture in the High Street is a real problem.The council dropped themselves in it on that and have been unable to find a sensible way out.

Supermarket style shopping is non existent so you are forced to the other towns, not that that's a particular hardship.

It has a lot to recommend it too, some of which you already know and you're close to some lovely countryside up on the North Downs and down along the river.

[poliphilo]

I've lived in some fairly rough places. Oldham for instance- where it wasn't unusual for tanked up hard nuts to go rolling past our house in the small hours of Sunday morning.

As for supermarkets, we currently live on the outskirts of a village where the nearest ones are a mile or two away. We cope by having food delivered.

So, no, if those are the only problems, I think we can cope...