History on a Bookmark

An advantage of being around for a long, long time is that you have a fair bit of history under your belt. And the Foyles bookshop on the Charing Cross Road can definitely lay a claim on that. But more importantly, it is how you make that history available to others.
Foyles does it in a very unique way. They have these wonderful - nice and thick and not likely to tear in one use - bookmarks that bring out an aspect of their history.

Each bookmark has a photograph of some event that happened at Foyles in the distant past and has a bit of story.
The one I hold right now in my hands has a photograph that dates back to 10 November 1960. The photo shows: 'LADY C SOLD OUT. IN STOCK AGAIN TOMORROW.

Lady C, of course, refers to Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence. The bookmark goes on to explain: "Four hundred people queued outside the shop on 10 November 1960 to buy the uncensored 'Lady C'. We sold out in 15 minutes and took orders for 3,000 copies that day."

I bet all of those 400 were men!!!

On my flight back from England, I was sitting next to an middle-aged lady who is from Switzerland. She saw the bookmark and exclaimed, "I used to work for Foyles long ago." So I gave the bookmark (another one - not the Lady C) to her. I bet it brought back to her years of memory.

The Lost Symbol for £0.99

It pays to be loyal. Though I see no reason why customers should be loyal - if the customer is the king, shouldn't the companies be loyal to the customer? I would rather call it patronage.

In any case, this "patronage" resulted in obtaining The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown for £0.99. Now isn't that cool?

How?

I have been buying books from Foyles for some time now. Every time I buy something worth £15 I get a stamp. The personnel at the cash counters are pretty decent. They stamp the Foyalty Card (that's what they call it) even when the cost of a book is £14.50 or thereabouts. Once you get 10 stamps, you are eligible to buy anything worth £15 (basically, 10%).

So, The Lost Symbol beckoned me and I am now following the exploits of Professor Robert Langdon (he always ends up with a super smart lady companion, have you noticed?).

Why didn't I purchase a book of more lasting value, you ask?

Oh come on! Don't be a snob!

Besides, I do not think it would have made for an attention-grabbing headline. Do you think you would have stopped to read a blog titled "Think Twice for £0.99".
That was the other book I picked up :)

My Favourite Spots in London

These are not available on standard tourist maps. These are not what a tourist would like to do in London. But I would recommend these without hesitation to anyone who wishes to seek my advice.

These are:
Hamleys - a place to rediscover your childhood. Perhaps the greatest collection of toys and games under one roof. And if I am not wrong has 5 floors of pure pleasure.

Foyles - All the books you can read. Amazon is good but Foyles is great. Heaps and heaps and heaps of books under all possible categorization.


Nando's - Their peri-peri chicken is to die for. A most wonderful family living in London takes me to Nando's every time I visit them.

Visit these and thank me for the rest of your life.