Yesterday I woke up and decided to go for a drive. The night before I wasn’t too sure whether or not I’d attend the book fair as I was wavering between meeting up with some friends and lazily sleeping in on a cold rainy morning. Fortunately for me I went with the former. It also meant that I got to test out my newly replaced RTA e-tag on the M5 motorway (side note: it’s so cool how you can submit toll infringements and access your previous statements online these days).
So anyways I jump in my car, fire up the TomTom GPS navigation software on my ipAQ hw6965, punch in the destination, and off I went. Within thirty five to forty minutes I had reached my destination. I was mighty impressed, and I managed to score a great parking spot right at the entrance to the uni and the Roundhouse. It was approximately 11:15am.
First thing I notice is Miss M walking out. I quickly discover that she’s been there since 10:30am and is currently on a quick coffee run. I continue on over to meet the other guys in the queue. Next thing I notice is how big the queue was at that moment.
It was cold and muggy, and drizzling - the perfect Anzac morning (NOT!) - so people were wrapped up, had their umbrellas (or garbage bags in my friend Miss T’s case - will explain shortly) covering them and had been waiting for a while.
Ok, so you’re probably wondering what the…?
To answer this I’m going to have to flash back to Tuesday when I sent an email to Miss M asking her about the book fair, and this was her response:
quite a few people have expressed interest - i have told everyone the same things so listen up, book fair virgin, ima gonna break it to ya HARD:
- be early to line up!
- do not bring a backpack
- bring shopping bags to hold books
- wear comfortable clothing
we’re meeting there at 11:15am SHARP!
See you there
So the garbage bag Miss T was sporting was meant to hold the books that she was about to purchase. Rightio then.
As the clock ticked closer to midday the queue continued to grow, as did the anticipation of what bargains there were to be found.
I myself didn’t put too much thought into what I actually wanted, but I quickly set a goal to find some investment/finance books if possible. Others were after cook books, fiction, children’s books, science and all sorts.
As the clock struck twelve, the doors began to open. The group of us observed a few things at this point. Firstly the size of the queue had almost doubled, bending around the back of the Roundhouse. Secondly, people were getting serious and preparing to rush (the sight was very similar to scenes of Boxing day sales at David Jones or Myer in the city). Thirdly, there were a group of people who were less than five metres away from us standing underneath a covered area waiting to jump the queue in a big way.
Moments later it was chaos. People, more like a herd of rhinos, stormed the entry way and rushed to their pre-determined areas (the books were nicely divided into sections based on topic). It really was an extraordinary sight. The group of people who waited to jump the queue did just that. They were obviously seasoned veterans of the book fair, and there was nothing anybody could do about it. What was particularly funny was how the older folk were mostly responsible for this re-enactment of the animal kingdom. It was crazy!
Once inside, I casually checked the list of topics available and made my way to the psychology section on the ground floor. Upstairs were areas for science, religion, cooking, children’s, philosophy and others. By the time I had made it from the entrance of the Roundhouse to the psych section I noticed people walking around with boxes already half or completely filled! Seriously, was this the Amazing Race book fair edition or something?
Naturally, I grabbed one of the empty boxes underneath the tables and started shoveling books into it myself. OK it wasn’t quite like that but soon I had six or seven books in the box. When I was done with the psych section I moved onto travel, and picked up a few Frommer’s and Lonely Planet guides. Of the few I noticed I only kept one - deciding that the print dates on the others was far too old (nearly a decade ago) so the information would have changed quite a bit. I’d be better off buying a new and more recent edition when I actually intend to travel to certain places (like Europe).
I made a couple of trips upstairs; the first time not really seeing much. The second time I had already purchased my books and exited the place, but I returned looking for the gents. It was then that I also found the religion and (after asking one of the nice elderly ladies working there) the self-help and philosophy sections. Score two more books! I was quite disappointed with those sections however, particularly philosophy. Oh well, you can’t win them all.
I paid for the two books I had picked up, quickly bypassing the long queue by utilising the cleverly implemented “express (less than ten books) cash only” lane and returned to the group, who were just finishing up comparing purchases and tallying up amounts paid (or not paid). Everybody had acquired bargains.
I had picked up eleven titles, all for under $15 total ($13.50 to be exact). Here were my purchases for the day:
Wayne W Dyer - Wisdom of the Ages
Elaine St James - Simplify your work life
Stephanie Dowrick - Choosing Happiness, Life & Soul Essentials
Adrian Feldmann - The Perfect Mirror
Covey, Merrill & Merill - First Things First
Maggie Hyde and Michael McGuiness - Introducing Jung (I’ve got the 1997 reprint)
Dennis Palumbo - Writing from the Inside Out
Jeanne Segal - Raising Your Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman - Emotional Intelligence
Lonely Planet - Eastern Europe on a shoestring
Stephen Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
I was quite happy 
Unfortunately one of our friends had been ripped off $15 or so when one of the workers had mistallied her books. I suppose the lesson there is to always do your own tallying before checking out so that you have some idea of how much it’s all going to cost (and whether or not you truly have bought some bargains).
Once we were all content it was time for lunch. On our way out Miss M pointed out the 24Seven machine that the uni had installed. It was interesting to see a machine with a robotic arm there serving up convenience items. It basically replaced having real people (with wages) there. It’s sad, but yet a sign of the economic and technological times (similar to the vending machine bartender).
Soon we jumped into a car and drove to a busy street nearby. After unsuccessfully finding an available Thai place (the street was alive with locals out to shop, eat and enjoy their public holiday) we found a Chinese place and everybody had laksa. It wasn’t too bad, but I would have preferred a bit more spice in mine. The $1.50 public holiday surcharge brought my lunch total to $17.50. Not quite a bargain lunch but you gotta eat sometime, right?
So despite the doom and gloom of the weather it turned out to be quite a good day. Just goes to show you make your own day by controlling how you choose to perceive it. Now I’ve got some serious reading to do 
