The Itinerant Poetry Librarian: Library Administration

Tuesday 18 July 2006

Library Administration

What is perhaps the most banal of tasks in our poetry librarian’s world (we don’t count lugging approximately 65 poetry titles around Europe as banal, more like just ludicrously inane) is making sure we have enough library cards and ByeByeLaws as obviously we take our paperwork extremely seriously, being a Good Librarian. So, since Budapest was so keen to sign up to our poetry library, we’ve doggawn run outta cards. Damnit. So this is today’s task. As well as locating our emergency tobacco, leftover from Amsterdam, as we have just run out of cigarettes, and are currently located on a boat somewhere in the Danube, which doesn’t appear to have a cigarette vending machine on board. It does have a comfy bed though. So . . . thoughts on Budapest. It is hot. You can easily get lost in the underground when trying to find the right metro exit. It is very easy to burn your face and half your arm if you go and visit Europe’s largest lake in the Balaton. So we recommend that instead of going during the hot, hot heat of the daytime Hungary sun, you trek on over at night and then you can also watch the stars. Which is what we did. What we don’t recommend also, however, is sleeping over, waking up the next day and then laying around some more out on a deck in the lake. This is because you might fall alseep again. And wake up very red. You get the picture. Unfortunately we didn’t take one of a red us. What a shame. If you are still keen on Balatan though, it is highly recommended that you watch the sunset. And if you are lucky you might find yourself colonised, like we did. One moment you’re sitting there, looking out at the crashing, stroppy, steely waves and the sun slipping down, the next thing you know, there’s two Hungarian fishermen either side of you, one rubbing his hands together gleefully everytime he’s set up his auto device which beeps when something bites (and if you are as lucky as we were you might find one behind you too). Then there’s a dude putting together his hang-glide-water-surfing-type thang ready to surf on into the sunset, and a small child is running towards you with a rather large fishing net. And Beagles. High times in Hungary huh?

So, Prague having been routed in the new library member stakes, we thought it prescient to whack up some of the lovely pictures a Mr Randy Travis Esq. took, while we were in Prague and at that awesome nuclear bunker music session we posted about a little while ago. ‘Cos Prague, you may have been beaten in the library member stakes . . . but we still had a great time, and love you lots!