Things I Did Yesterday 07/01/10

Well, it's all a bit chilly here in London town. And yesterday, while it snowed down, I:

- Sat upstairs in the Starbucks by Tottenham Court Road, as noted, and watched it snow. It wasn't settling at that point, but there's something I find really magical about sitting in warmth and light, watching the weather outside. It's the main thing I love about winter: observing the miserable weather while warm and cosy inside. Upstairs in that Starbucks is particularly good, as it has floor-to-ceiling windows nearly all around. Get yourself into the comfy chairs and you're golden. Great people-watching spot, too. No lack of foot-traffic about there.

- Worked. Had a meeting in the morning about stock control and so on for the coming year. We're having a massive sale on stuff that just hasn't sold for us the last year, or hasn't sold as well as we expected. Some good stuff in there , but we just need the space. So we talked about we could keep overstocks to a minimum throughout the year. Fairly productive, though there's always an element of guesswork in book ordering. This year was particularly bad, with the audience for Marvel and DC trades really dropping through the floor, leaving us with quantities of titles we had sold through on the previous volume. Don't get me wrong: you always expect drop-off. But this has been far beyond anything we should have expected. It's almost as if people are just getting bored with a rolling series of crossovers and events. Go figure.

- No delivery thanks to snow being particularly bad up in the North West (where Diamond's warehouse is), so just spent the afternoon working on libraries. Time to start looking towards the wrap-up for the financial year.

- Went out for a few drinks as it was the last chance to see Tom before he heads back up to York. Me, Nat, Will K, Will B, The Original Tony Lee (not that comics writing fella) and Tom went to the Crown. I do like the Crown. lots of fond memories there, plus it's still the cheapest place to drink in town (along with the other Samuel Smiths, of course). Does leave you feeling rough, though. The in-house Sam Smith's brews go down easy but give you a good kicking in the morning if you're not careful. Intended to go out for one or two, but stayed until closing. Don't do that very often any more, so that was nice.

- Ran to catch a bus, which conveniently came along just as I got to the stop. Not enough money on my Oyster card, though, so muttering to myself I walked down to Holborn to charge it up,, then had to wait in the freezing cold for another bus. Rassumfrassumfuckinghell.

- Got home and "accidentally" woke up wifey so I could have a cuddle, selfish old drunk that I am.