"What are all these boxes?" I ask Seth as a new load of battered baked bean cartons are piled up against Frog's bookshelves.
"Stuff from Noddy that didn't go to the new library," says Seth with ill-disguised disgust.
"Why's it come here?"
"Why does anything come here?"
It turns out that T.Aldous has decided that this stock's got to come here for transfer or withdrawal by one of the branch librarians at Helminthdale. Despite the fact that that half of the borough's got more branch librarians, including one who's directly responsible for Noddy Library.
Bronwyn is not a happy bunny as she has been volunteered for the work as she's only preparing for the Big Wild Read, a programme of reading group events and covering for the reference librarians who are on leave.
"When I was at Milbeck when it was closing for two years while we put in a new floor, walls and ceiling I had to do all the withdrawals and transfers myself. There was no 'oh just send all your shit to Helminthdale for them to sort out' then, oh no."
The situation's made worse when Doreen warns Bronwyn that T.Aldous expects it to be cleared by the time he's back from leave so that Frog can be shifted into that area to make the way clear for a couple of settees to be placed outside T.Aldous' office for to make a waiting room.
I thought I had a wide vocabulary of invective and profane language but evidently I'm a rank amateur.
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