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On the Road Again

When I started in the Auckland Public Library service
I held a job on relief staff. I'd move from library

to library, relieving at the busiest or short-staffed
libraries. I remember one of the first conversations

I had with a fellow library assistant was about the criteria
for employment. If a man applied for a job, they'd

always say, 'ooh a man', and she was smirking. All
us pool staff have our favourite places, mine was Epsom.

It's the place where I first held a light pen,
and a librarian there said it was a good idea

to read the covers of books while you're
wanding them so that you look interested. Good tip.

Once I worked in Central and helped a security guard
wrestle a man to the floor -- the man said I had better

manners than the guard. He was banned later, but the
circulation people said he was a regular, who had bleeding

gums and was a drunk. A lot of vagabonds sleep in the bushes
around the library. I was locked out of my flat once.