Like many relationships, we have had our ups and our downs, our good times and bad and in between, and all of them are filled with memories in many shapes and forms. Some new, some old, some frequented enthusiastically some not so much. I am talking about my relationship with libraries.
Growing up the local library was a monthly visit for my mother, and a place full of big comfy cushions we could sit on while perusing the kid’s section. The kids’ section was set up in the centre of the library in a sunken lounge area – reminiscent of the fashion of the 70’s. A memory is of my grandmother with her weekly visits to the library with her basket full of books. Every 6 months or so a “library van” would come to Bergville and a group of ladies would select the new books to swop and go into the library. The library was housed in a new building in town and was very airy with the flooring in the kids section a plush welcoming carpet. It was filled with wooden bookshelves and the librarian (an elderly local lady) would be constantly pushing around a wooden cart full of books to put away.
During my high school years, I remember the library as the only room in the school that had a functioning air conditioner. This was very needed in the heat of a Pietermaritzburg and especially on a Monday after a free weekend. I heard people even used to curl up and sleep under the desks – shame on them.
Then came University. The only time the library would see me was at the end of term when I would be hurriedly copying lecture notes. The library was built on the main roads in Scottsville and with not very many cars around, my sisters car ( which had a very distinct (hole in the exhaust) sound and which I very often borrowed) could be heard by the owner as she sat studying. This sound was very prevalent on a Friday afternoon, I was off to a digs party while she wiled her hours away surrounded by books.
I tried to re-kindle our relationship in the early years of our marriage, as I tried to instil a similar base for a relationship they could grow and develop. This was only a partial success.
Over the years my need for a library has diminished to zero, but a deep fascination and love has developed instead for old second-hand bookshops, this love is shared with the HF and the offspring so there is a little glimmer at the end of the tunnel ….
Pink Farm Chick 