If only dogs could drive!

Thought I'd share with you a rather unusual, but charming, explanation as to why one of the many deliveries of books I receive is running a bit late. There's certainly a few odd balls in the book trade and I can feel myself turning into one of them by the day!

"Hello M.,

Firstly, thanks again for your order for A Fight For A Life. The Story Of A West African Convert And His Friends by Frances M. Hensley which is already on the way to you, this being merely a note to confirm when you should be in receipt. I would appreciate your feedback and confirmation that it reaches you in good order. You should receive this by Monday, 9th of December 2013 at the latest and I will check in with you after that date to ensure it has been received and meets your expectations.

May I also apologise, profusely, for the delay in shipping your book. I am a one man operation and sometimes it is simply not possible for me to get to my, rather remote, storage unit quickly enough. Not my usual service I can assure you, but until I have minions, or the Jack Russells master the art of driving or serving customers properly this does, occasionally, happen. If I can be of any further assistance don't hesitate to contact me. Any questions can be directed to me by replying to this email. I take customer service seriously and if you are unhappy in any way, please, tell me - I am always trying to improve my service to keep customers coming back... and my Jack Russells in the lavish lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.

Kind regards,


David Gower-Spence, Owner.
BookLovers of Bath"

The Magnificent Tonbridge Christmas Lights Switch On and Fireworks Extravaganza....

....Sorry I missed it!
I was doing a book fair in Dorking. I did hear the music and fireworks when I got back. You couldn't not hear them from anywhere in the town! Hope everyone enjoyed it and no doubt the local paper will have lots of lovely pictures....

Russian Roulette....

Tonbridge's Anthony Horowitz fans will remember queuing up outside Mr. Books on a cold  afternoon back in February. They will almost certainly also already know that his new book, Russian Roulette, which was actually being written at the time of his book signing here, is in the shops and available to order from Mr. Books. Anthony's assistant has just mentioned to me that he will be talking to fans at the St. James Theatre in London on Sat. December 7th at 11am. Some tickets are still available if you're quick....

Anthony Horowitz and a nervous looking Mr. Books at February Book signing

Hans Christian Andersen's tales alive at Mr. Books!...

The picture doesn't do it justice. Come and see for yourselves

That Raven is watching you!

And here it is the pictures you've all been waiting for..... The new Mr. Books window display. Very Christmasy? Well sort of but actually with some very dark undertones. It's loosely based on the story of The Snow Queen which, as I'm sure you all know, is a Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Story which tells a moral story of the fight between good and evil. You know the usual kind of folk lore stuff. It looks far better when you see it live so come and have a look when you're passing. No, make that come and have a look by dropping everything and making a special trip tomorrow!
Mrs. Books can be proud of her creation I hope you will all agree. In fact I think I might start hiring her out!...

An Entrepreneur at Work!....

A rare photo of Yours Truly taken by someone who came into my shop calling himself "Schubert" which I think is his made up photographer arty name and not his real name, who wanted to shoot me for a series he's doing called "Entrepreneurs at Work." for a photo web site called blipfoto. Not the most flattering picture I've ever seen of myself but pretty natural none the less so I quite like it. I like the sound of "entrepreneur" as well. Never really thought of myself as that....

The Snow Queen....

Like all great fairy tales The Snow Queen is a story of good triumphing over evil. It tells how the innocence of a little girl saves her little boy friend from certain damnation after his heart has become corrupted by the evil from a shattered magic mirror. What's this got to do with anything? Come and have a look at the latest window display at Mr. Books Bookshop to find out!...

Selfies....

Egg Head



Caught in the sites

I heard on the news this morning that "Selfie" is the top new word to enter the Oxford English Dictionary this year. Now I know that some of you Tonbridge Blog readers object to our ever changing language so some will view this as a change for the worst. I just see it as a great opportunity to play around with some images of myself and post them here for you all to ridicule me....



Good Morning Piccadilly....

School Report....

Slade Primary School are the only primary school right at the heart of Tonbridge. I have a special interest in them as my daughter went there from years 3 to 6. The motto of Best Team Happy may not be some age old Latin phrase but it typifies the ethos of the school. Mrs. Resch who has been Head Teacher there since 1999 has had a huge influence on the school. As a front person for a school they don't come much better for first and indeed lasting impressions. The only thing is, even though I've known her for seven or eight years now, both through the school and socially, I still find it hard to call her Vivienne. I can't put my finger on why other than that's just what you do where teachers are concerned, even with someone as warm as she is . So, Mrs. Resch is what I shall continue to call her. Best Team Happy is what they are all about and it shows. Right from day one the children learn that they should do their best, work together and be happy themselves and help others be happy around them. As an ethos for a school goes it's not a bad one is it. So imagine how flattered I was when Mrs. Resch walked into Mr. Books a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would help them out with their public relations to enable them to reach out more to the community and tell them what the school is all about.....

The Week ahead....

What's happening this week? Any events going on that you'd like to share with the people of Tonbridge on TonbridgeBlog?
Up and down the High Street nearly all the shops have their Christmas windows dressed and Mr. Books will be doing the same later in the week. Consultant Creative Director, sometimes known as Mrs. Books, promises that it could be her best yet and, knowing what she has planned for it, I think she could be right. You'll have to wait and see....

BOok ArT attack....

A while ago I wrote to the schools in Tonbridge asking if they'd like to take part in a "Book Art" competition for a bit of fun (and some book token prizes.) For a while I thought that no one had received my email and I put the idea away as another one of my whims. Then, right on deadline, two schools' art teachers arrive with bundles of beautiful book art of all descriptions. The brief was pretty wide open and was to come up with a unique piece of art which, in some way, involved books. I knew that the interpretations would be wonderfully varied and so it proved. We've only had entrants from Hillview and Hayesbrook so far so come on Judd, Hugh Christie, Weald of Kent and TGS. Maybe it'll be too late for this year unless you're very quick but it could be back next year by popular demand. Here's a few of the entries sitting in the window at Mr. Books where they'll be on display for about a week....

Gary Bunt: Artist....

Apparently Tonbridge artist Gary Bunt's paintings sell for quite a sum these days. Good luck to the guy as he fought a well publicized long fight with cancer some years back. I'm not sure I'd pay thousands for any of these but I do really like several of them. Lowry-esque with a hint of Beryl Cook thrown in for good measure. See what you think here

Tonbridge Tree Huggers....

Nick Clegg keeps writing to me even though I was only a member of the Lib Dem party for a year and haven't been for about five years. Now he's banging on about green issues when, as he points out, most Tories on the other side of the Coalition have quietly let it drop. This is what he had to say:

"Dear Mark,

This week I made one of my most important speeches of the year. Miss it? I wouldn’t be surprised: it was on the environment – an issue that used to be the height of fashion across Westminster but has now fallen out of the political vogue.

I met with green groups so that they could hear direct, from me, that the Liberal Democrats are as committed as ever to the green agenda. Back when the Coalition formed, the Conservatives said they wanted this to be the greenest Government ever. We haven’t forgotten and every day we’re holding them to their word.

It doesn’t make for a particularly quiet life in Whitehall. To be honest, I think the Tories find it baffling. They’ve decided that there are no longer votes in green issues because people are too busy worrying about the economy – and they can’t fathom why we still care. And yet last month all of us sat to hear Sir Mark Walport, the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, set out the threat of climate change in the plainest possible terms. He said politicians need to stop asking if climate change is happening, or if humans are responsible for it. We need to get on with tackling it. What more do the doubters need?

You would, on this occasion, expect Ed Miliband to get it. He is a former Climate Change Secretary after all. But Labour’s populist promise to temporarily freeze energy bills would be a huge blow to our green commitments. Not only is it a con – with the energy companies bound to hike up prices before and after the freeze – but it would also massively undermine investment in our renewables industry, threatening clean energy and thousands of jobs.

So it’s up to us to keep pushing policies that protect our environment – whether that’s our 5p charge on plastic bags, cutting greenhouse gases, or getting more low carbon cars on our roads.

I’m green because I want to hand on the best world possible to our children and grandchildren – tell me why you’re green too.

Best wishes,

Nick Clegg"


So is he just a sandal wearing namby pamby tree hugging liberal or are these policies still relevant as we come out of one of the worst recessions in centuries? What do you think and does it have any relevance to Tonbridge?...

Neither Trick nor Treat....

Walking in south Tonbridge last week I noticed this gem in the window of a house (which shall remain numberless) on Woodfield Road.

"We do not celebrate Halloween in this house
so please do not disturb us"

So are they just miserable people with no sense of what young folk like and no willingness to adapt to modern ways or have they got a good point? Back in my youth they'd have been prime candidates to have their gates lifted (now there's another tale!) if indeed they had any gates to lift....

Tonbridge Books....

Walking with a history lesson sounds good to me. Margaret Beston's poetry always moves me

About to be reprinted. Just as well as Mr. Books is down to last 3 copies

If you want to buy someone (maybe yourself) a book with a local connection this Christmas then why not consider one of these. All very decent in their own right and yet all quite different. All of course available at all good bookshops.... and Mr. Books! Prices vary but none of them will cost you anything like a take away meal for two....

Bob Turcan's is a nice enough pictorial guide. Three Chevrons tells us the history of the
thousand years of the Clare family -as in the Tonbridge Castle founders if you didn't know