McHuston Booksellers

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Tag: Pryor (Page 103 of 105)

A Penny saved… is one cent.

January 28, 2013 /

As Ben Franklin is misquoted as saying (under his Poor Richard’s Almanack persona of Richard Saunders), a “penny saved is a penny earned.” Actually, the published bit of advice read: A penny saved is two-pence dear. These days, people probably relate better to the “penny earned” version, since we don’t see many two-pence coins these days. I wonder about the truth in the penny saved idiom, compared to times past.

Having said that, I was surprised this morning when my first customer of the day bought a cup of coffee and – as she was counting out the change – informed me that she had overpaid by one cent on her previous visit, and was going to recover that overpayment today by sliding over one cent less than the cash register total.

It threw me back, I’ll admit. Not over the penny. I don’t even quibble about nickels and dimes. If someone is in the ballpark, I’ll make up the rest myself. I’m easy to get along with, and regularly round down prices to make the change easier to pay or return.

I have no memory of the earlier transaction or overcharging – because naturally, I wouldn’t. Not knowingly. Not even a cent. Especially a cent. I don’t even bother to bend down to retrieve a penny on the sidewalk, as it has become more work for my knees that I care to invest.

But I worry that she was harboring ill thoughts all the while, believing I had shorted her a penny and wanting to recover it. There is a dish of change near the cash register in which at least a dollar’s worth of pennies reside, not to mention nickels, dimes, and quarters. Some folks just toss their change in there, and I leave it.

My customer must be a devotee of Richard Saunders and his Almanack advice, and I would probably be a lot better off financially if I treated my finances similarly. I’m sure over the course of the years, I have rounded down a fair amount of money. To my thinking, I’d rather cover it than have a customer worry about having the exact change, or holding sufficient coinage to keep from breaking a larger bill. It’s just my style.

In Ben Franklin’s day, a penny was a great big chocolate colored chunk of copper with some crude stamping on the front and back. At least that is how those old coins have survived. A cent is certainly more impressive as “a penny saved” if the coin features a date from colonial times. Poor Richard might not have been in that financial position had he taken his own advice.

Personally, I’m more fond of some of his other sayings, like – Fish and visitors stink in three days. Now THAT is an astute observation well worth a saved penny.

See Time. See Time fly…

December 31, 2012 /

The last day of the year – 2012. Newspaper writers and internet bloggers are looking back over the past twelve months, digging up and presenting lists of best and worst, interesting and otherwise.

For me, I’d just as soon look ahead.

2012 was – by my reckoning – as quick a year as I’ve experienced in some time. Contrary to popular opinion, years do not pass at equal rates. True, they are filled with twelve months and (excepting leap years) standard numbers of weeks and days, but some seem to trudge grudgingly along while others whisk by in an impatient flash.

For me, this was one of the latter. 2012 started as a year caught up in alternating fits of inactivity and furious planning. The physical part of the bookstore was closed and by the arrival of the new year, I was mired in the “any day now” part of anticipating the reopening. Good things take time, and it was not until April that I received the keys to the new location.

All the moving, planning, sorting, stacking, cleaning, organizing, and decorating tasks that were necessary to open the new location seemed to affect the passage of time itself. There weren’t enough hours in the day to get any one task completed. Summer came and went, and winter finally arrived, and now the holiday season is wrapping up.

I think I’ll be content to look forward to 2013 instead of compiling any list of my “year’s best” or “year’s worst” events. Suffice it to say that anything not on the list of things that need to be completed by the end of 2013 must have been something I managed to finish before the midnight wrapping-up of this year.

Thanks to all who visited the new shop, and my gracious appreciation for the many kind words offered in regard to the store as it is shaping up. It is, after all, a work still in progress. The image is proof enough of that. The picture was taken just under three weeks after the reopening project started, and while it isn’t dramatically different, the shop has already evolved from its beginnings.

There is a feeling in the air, an aura of anticipation – if you will – that makes me almost certain that the upcoming twelve months are going to be filled with wonderful things for the business and otherwise. I truly enjoy visiting with all of you who share part of your day in stepping through the front door, and look forward to seeing you in 2013.

Best wishes to all, and a Happy New Year!

What the Dickens?

December 29, 2012 /

I’ve been spending time with a favorite family, one that I’ve not visited in some time. The tribulations facing William Dorrit and his grown children make for some great drama, as co-presented by the BBC and WGBH-Boston in an adaptation of Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens.

Somehow, I missed the whole miniseries when it aired in the US in 2010, but thanks to the hand-held viewing device (you know the thing to which I refer, which shall go un-named here…) I’ve been able to catch up on the episodes.

Much of the real-life of Mr. Dickens was woven into the fabric of his stories, and the patriarch of the Dorrit clan begins the story imprisoned for debt – just as Dickens’ own father had been jailed. A social reformer on many issues, Dickens points out the lack of logic in detaining debtors, who otherwise might have been able to work to pay off their creditors.

Although the work was published serially more than 150 years ago, his topics still reflect the times. One of the subplots involves a banker who is said to turn his clients investments to gold with unfailing returns – in the manner of present-day schemer Bernie Madoff. And – just as the financial scheme of Madoff’s house came crashing down, Mr. Merdle suffers financial and social ruin when his investment scheme eventually fails. The characters in Little Dorrit have their financial security destroyed due to the collapse of what had been considered a no-risk investment, as did the victims of Bernie Madoff.

Where Dickens created distinct characters to enliven his novels, the BBC production has followed faithfully. Andy Serkis plays the evil villain Mssr. Rigaud, who hisses about as much as the character Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies, also played by Serkis. And Mr. Pancks, the snorting and nervous-twitching rent collector is done justice by British actor Eddie Marsan.

I realize though, that it isn’t the Dorrit family I’m especially fond of – it is the telling of their story by Charles Dickens that draws me in. During William Dorrit’s stint in prison he is alternately pompous and sniveling. When he is freed at long last, his newly-found fortune inspires conceit and condescension rather than inspiration for the greater good. His daughter Fanny was already snobbish before the family fortunes changed, and son Edward is idle and feckless regardless of his financial position.

Only Little Dorrit – Amy – who was born in the debtors’ prison, remains her kindhearted self throughout.

Perhaps if I had offered a Little Dorrit action figure instead of the one of Mr. Dickens (complete with removable pen and hat!), it might have sold during the holiday season. I’m a firm believer though, that Dickens is the gift that keeps on giving!

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