Mad Woman In Red Coat arrives early again today (2 June). She has a look of complete insanity about her and that’s got a lot to do with her coat buttons, which are enormous, clown-like. The eyes are also dilated, is she on prescribed drugs? She sits down next to a retired stranger by the comfy chairs and newspapers and talks about her new shoes.
I am alone on the podium and it’s approaching 10am, there’s no Josef, no Mr Intense and no Big Nose. I begin to feel insecure, where is everybody?
The library staff members are also tense but also hyperactive. They laugh nervously, slam books into racks and jog when they can walk. Mrs Runningaround quickly glances at me as I bite into a banana muffin; maybe she to is wondering where all the psychopaths are?
By 10.30am normal service is resumed, library staff are happy, I’m happy. Josef appears, grinning, and quickly sets up his laptop and breakfast before heading to the toilet for his shower. Within 10 minutes Mr Intense makes an appearance and launches onto a swivel chair. Soon someone is working on the rusty microfiche viewer, another person causes the photocopier to malfunction and an Estonian couple arrive, inquiring about accommodation for the night. The library is quickly turning into the party scene from “One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest,” you have to be here to fully appreciate the mayhem. There’s only one solution, AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell” blasting at full volume!
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