#52 Travel

Dear diary,

Wow, you’d think the library would slow down this time of year, but it really doesn’t. I’ve been kept busy with all the regular library things, plus heaps of activities and ‘secret projects’ (which Boudecia made me swear to take to the grave unless they become public knowledge, whichever comes first). It’s been a while and I have to post something here for the Learning 2.something Program, otherwise I don’t get paid. No, seriously.

So it’s fitting that I have some big news to tell about one of the ‘secret projects’ I’ve been working on.

Many years ago, the mobile library van was involved in a head-on collision with a library building, in an accident that claimed the life of one writer-cum-librarian, Penny “The Pen” Guin. Since then it has been sitting in a garage waiting to be demolished or salvaged.

Pepper originally wanted to convert it into a mobile children’s library, but it was rejected on the grounds that children shouldn’t be encouraged to enter vehicles with strange adults, and so the idea was shelved. When I became a Library Officer – the crowning achievement of my life so far – I helped her to get the project back on the road, except as a generic collection of traveling books.

BiblioTech gave us a grant to get the Mobile Library up and running, and we put the finishing touches on it yesterday. I painted the van and gave it some of my best artwork – all of my clothes have stripes and smears across them. Pepper gathered the collection from various sources, some of which she had to go to court for.

But now it is complete. We’ve decided to travel out to eight country towns all over rural Victoria. I’m so excited about the prospect of promoting literacy to bogans. I was amazed to hear how few rural areas had a local library; I mean, how can people live in such substandard conditions? Well they won’t have to live much longer (like that) because we’re coming to pay them a visit!

So yeah, we head off just after Christmas. We spend a few days in each town before moving on to the next. I’ve never heard of any of them before, but Pepper assures me she’s had contact with the authorities there and they’ve made all the preparations for or visit. Hooray!

Anyway, before I go I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Crazy Kwanzaa, Really Good Rizal Day and a Fantastic Festivus. Take care over the silly season!

Hee hee, ee hee hee!

-Jay, shelver explorer