Crossing Down the Island
From northeastern Scotland to south of London...how I ended up on a BookCrossing-a-licious trip
by whiteraven13December 16, 2005
It started with a suitcase in which nestled several promised books and a package of BookCrossing postcards. It ended up being a BookCrossing frolic down the length of Great Britain.
Let me explain.
I come from England, and I visit when I can. My parents moved up to Scotland when Dad retired, and my brother, sister-in-law and nieces live up there too. Me, I ended up moving to California. It just sort of…happened.
I travelled in my BookCrossing t-shirt, and there were several BookCrossing books in my suitcase. Nine long hours later on the other side of The Pond, I reached London Heathrow. By the time I had reached Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland, nearly 24 hours after leaving my home in Silicon Valley, the t-shirt needed a severe laundering-to and I was having a hard time staying upright, but it really did set the scene for an unexpectedly BookCrossing-a-licious visit.
One of the first things I did after I'd had some sleep and my fix of cheese-and-pickle sandwiches, not necessarily in that order, was to open the several packages that had come for me. Two of them contained BookCrossing books — a copy of "The Rats" from Pookledo, and "Shakespeare My Butt" from Spike1972. Both exchanges had been arranged through BCUK. Another BookCrossing link! I PMed daemonwolf to get her address for "Under the Banner of God" — a book that had fascinated me and which had been on her wish list — and mailed it on the last day of my visit to Scotland.
Then I got in touch with swan-scot, one of Scotland's most active BookCrossers. We never quite managed to hook up on my previous visit, but this time we set a date and worked it in. A few days later I wandered into Borders to meet her and she pounced on me with a big hug. We spent a happy hour or so chatting over coffee. Swan-scot loves to take her books up to mountains and historic places — hey, historic places! I resemble that remark! She even noted that she'd left some at Clava Cairns, an ancient and atmospheric site that I had visited the previous winter, and had had great success in getting people to journal, as a backpackers' tour bus showed up there frequently on tours, and someone always took the book home.
Hm! That gave me a few ideas!
I'd brought my laptop along on the off-chance that I'd get some use out of it, and we were in luck: the Starbucks attached to the bookshop had wireless, and we hooked up to see what was going on. Swan-scot reminded me that BBC Shropshire was doing its weekly update — talk about good timing! While I couldn't get the broadcast, for the first time ever we hooked into the weekly fun and games on the Chit-Chat forum, and I sent an email explaining what I was doing to the DJ. Not too long afterwards, YokoSpungeon announced that JimOnTheRadio had just read out my words on the air. I felt special!
Of course I left a few books behind, too. The year before, I'd taken some books to Semioticghost, and when she'd finished with them she'd posted them up to my Dad. We even persuaded Dad to make his first (anonymous) journal entry on one of them, though he hasn't joined. It must be said, though, that he's not shelf-ish: his read books do go to the charity shops where BookCrossers have a fair chance at getting their paws on them.
So, anyway, these books went into the wild. Not too many days later "The Rats" was journalled as a wild catch: score! Swan-scot took one of the Bill Brysons, but the other one has disappeared into the ether. Maybe it will pop up somewhere interesting, like Taiwan. Books really do teleport, you know! Honest, guv!
After I had finished visiting Scotland, I hopped onto a little orange Easyjet plane and flew down south. My friend Talitha67 picked me up at Luton Airport. She joined BookCrossing when I visited last, but hasn’t been that active — though she did report that at least one of the locals had contacted her and we were talking about how fun it was. Next time I'll have to bring over some labels, raid a charity shop, register the books and go wild releasing with her in my old home town of Hitchin — somewhere that still feels as familiar to me as an old, comfortable glove.
A few days later, I got on the first of two trains that would bring me to Semioticghost and some other Ipswich friends. On the second train, the place was taken over by a huge number of lively school kids. One of them seemed to think that making eardrum-shattering screams was appropriate behaviour on public transportation — until a rather cross lady tracked her down and gave her a thorough telling-off. Then lots of people applauded. It was wonderfully un-British: we normally just grin and bear it — but I digress.
I grabbed one of the central tables where I could dump all my copious luggage. (Luggage, by the laws of nature, becomes heavier the more you travel, no matter how many books you leave behind. There'll be no helping me when I'm a Famous AuthorTM and am lugging a suitcase of my own books all over the country!1) I placed the copy of "Shakespeare My Butt", heavily stickered, on the table, ready to read it, and was shortly joined by a gentleman who seemed amused and pleased to discover that I was a BookCrosser. We were even more amused and pleased when we recognised each other's user names from the BCUK list: this was BookGroupMan, and he knew who I was and that I would soon be meeting up with the London Renegades. Delighted, we spent the next hour alternating between reading, talking about BookCrossing, and marvelling at the wonderful coincidence.
Semioticghost treated me to a wonderful tour of Ipswich where she released science fiction books for World Space Week. I was inspired by her blatant BookCrossingness — casually attaching the books to railings and leaving them propped up against ancient gargoyles and statues. I am more of a stealth releaser, myself, but she thought nothing of just wandering up into the crowd and setting up her releases, no matter who was watching. For my part, I enjoyed looking at the plaques in line with my Markeroni addiction, whoops, pastime…
The next day it was time to hop on a train, wincing at the fare, and to head down into London. Several BookCrossers met me at the Stamford Arms and required me to wear a tiara. I discovered that it was more fun to wear it like a Zorro-type mask. I spent a pleasant hour or so with people I had previously only ever spoken to online: Molyneux, londonmet, alliesolskjaer, caffcaff, WistfulDragon, Tiggerlily, the We3Dragonets, and loopy1. (I am quite convinced I missed someone, but it's a function of my memory and not of you, so forgive me.) I traded the BookCrossing postcards for my lunch, and we chatted and laughed as I received a warm welcome. Sadly, YokoSpungeon was unable to make it, due to being sick as a parrot, but she sent WickedPhoenix over with a cheesecake and a card, and I discovered that I was allowed to keep the tiara, which was the one used in the Renegades' treasure hunt a few weeks earlier. I was very touched.
The same night, Talitha67 called me to let me know that BookCrossing was being discussed on the radio…
The Ipswich visit went by in a flash and then I got on my last set of trains, the ones which would take me to Woking in Surrey for the last stretch of my trip. Even there, I ended up chatting about BookCrossing and what was involved and what kinds of books one released. And a few days later I hopped on a plane for my 11-hour flight home, inspired and determined to wild release more and to have even more fun with BookCrossing than I had been before. BookCrossing in the UK is alive and well and I was very, very impressed.
So far, so good!
1 Tongue firmly in cheek
Let me explain.
I come from England, and I visit when I can. My parents moved up to Scotland when Dad retired, and my brother, sister-in-law and nieces live up there too. Me, I ended up moving to California. It just sort of…happened.
I travelled in my BookCrossing t-shirt, and there were several BookCrossing books in my suitcase. Nine long hours later on the other side of The Pond, I reached London Heathrow. By the time I had reached Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland, nearly 24 hours after leaving my home in Silicon Valley, the t-shirt needed a severe laundering-to and I was having a hard time staying upright, but it really did set the scene for an unexpectedly BookCrossing-a-licious visit.
One of the first things I did after I'd had some sleep and my fix of cheese-and-pickle sandwiches, not necessarily in that order, was to open the several packages that had come for me. Two of them contained BookCrossing books — a copy of "The Rats" from Pookledo, and "Shakespeare My Butt" from Spike1972. Both exchanges had been arranged through BCUK. Another BookCrossing link! I PMed daemonwolf to get her address for "Under the Banner of God" — a book that had fascinated me and which had been on her wish list — and mailed it on the last day of my visit to Scotland.
Then I got in touch with swan-scot, one of Scotland's most active BookCrossers. We never quite managed to hook up on my previous visit, but this time we set a date and worked it in. A few days later I wandered into Borders to meet her and she pounced on me with a big hug. We spent a happy hour or so chatting over coffee. Swan-scot loves to take her books up to mountains and historic places — hey, historic places! I resemble that remark! She even noted that she'd left some at Clava Cairns, an ancient and atmospheric site that I had visited the previous winter, and had had great success in getting people to journal, as a backpackers' tour bus showed up there frequently on tours, and someone always took the book home.
Hm! That gave me a few ideas!
I'd brought my laptop along on the off-chance that I'd get some use out of it, and we were in luck: the Starbucks attached to the bookshop had wireless, and we hooked up to see what was going on. Swan-scot reminded me that BBC Shropshire was doing its weekly update — talk about good timing! While I couldn't get the broadcast, for the first time ever we hooked into the weekly fun and games on the Chit-Chat forum, and I sent an email explaining what I was doing to the DJ. Not too long afterwards, YokoSpungeon announced that JimOnTheRadio had just read out my words on the air. I felt special!
Of course I left a few books behind, too. The year before, I'd taken some books to Semioticghost, and when she'd finished with them she'd posted them up to my Dad. We even persuaded Dad to make his first (anonymous) journal entry on one of them, though he hasn't joined. It must be said, though, that he's not shelf-ish: his read books do go to the charity shops where BookCrossers have a fair chance at getting their paws on them.
So, anyway, these books went into the wild. Not too many days later "The Rats" was journalled as a wild catch: score! Swan-scot took one of the Bill Brysons, but the other one has disappeared into the ether. Maybe it will pop up somewhere interesting, like Taiwan. Books really do teleport, you know! Honest, guv!
After I had finished visiting Scotland, I hopped onto a little orange Easyjet plane and flew down south. My friend Talitha67 picked me up at Luton Airport. She joined BookCrossing when I visited last, but hasn’t been that active — though she did report that at least one of the locals had contacted her and we were talking about how fun it was. Next time I'll have to bring over some labels, raid a charity shop, register the books and go wild releasing with her in my old home town of Hitchin — somewhere that still feels as familiar to me as an old, comfortable glove.
A few days later, I got on the first of two trains that would bring me to Semioticghost and some other Ipswich friends. On the second train, the place was taken over by a huge number of lively school kids. One of them seemed to think that making eardrum-shattering screams was appropriate behaviour on public transportation — until a rather cross lady tracked her down and gave her a thorough telling-off. Then lots of people applauded. It was wonderfully un-British: we normally just grin and bear it — but I digress.
I grabbed one of the central tables where I could dump all my copious luggage. (Luggage, by the laws of nature, becomes heavier the more you travel, no matter how many books you leave behind. There'll be no helping me when I'm a Famous AuthorTM and am lugging a suitcase of my own books all over the country!1) I placed the copy of "Shakespeare My Butt", heavily stickered, on the table, ready to read it, and was shortly joined by a gentleman who seemed amused and pleased to discover that I was a BookCrosser. We were even more amused and pleased when we recognised each other's user names from the BCUK list: this was BookGroupMan, and he knew who I was and that I would soon be meeting up with the London Renegades. Delighted, we spent the next hour alternating between reading, talking about BookCrossing, and marvelling at the wonderful coincidence.
Semioticghost treated me to a wonderful tour of Ipswich where she released science fiction books for World Space Week. I was inspired by her blatant BookCrossingness — casually attaching the books to railings and leaving them propped up against ancient gargoyles and statues. I am more of a stealth releaser, myself, but she thought nothing of just wandering up into the crowd and setting up her releases, no matter who was watching. For my part, I enjoyed looking at the plaques in line with my Markeroni addiction, whoops, pastime…
The next day it was time to hop on a train, wincing at the fare, and to head down into London. Several BookCrossers met me at the Stamford Arms and required me to wear a tiara. I discovered that it was more fun to wear it like a Zorro-type mask. I spent a pleasant hour or so with people I had previously only ever spoken to online: Molyneux, londonmet, alliesolskjaer, caffcaff, WistfulDragon, Tiggerlily, the We3Dragonets, and loopy1. (I am quite convinced I missed someone, but it's a function of my memory and not of you, so forgive me.) I traded the BookCrossing postcards for my lunch, and we chatted and laughed as I received a warm welcome. Sadly, YokoSpungeon was unable to make it, due to being sick as a parrot, but she sent WickedPhoenix over with a cheesecake and a card, and I discovered that I was allowed to keep the tiara, which was the one used in the Renegades' treasure hunt a few weeks earlier. I was very touched.
The same night, Talitha67 called me to let me know that BookCrossing was being discussed on the radio…
The Ipswich visit went by in a flash and then I got on my last set of trains, the ones which would take me to Woking in Surrey for the last stretch of my trip. Even there, I ended up chatting about BookCrossing and what was involved and what kinds of books one released. And a few days later I hopped on a plane for my 11-hour flight home, inspired and determined to wild release more and to have even more fun with BookCrossing than I had been before. BookCrossing in the UK is alive and well and I was very, very impressed.
So far, so good!
1 Tongue firmly in cheek