Now they tell me!

 I dropped into the English library on Saturday morning as I was also meeting someone there for a chat and a coffee afterwards.

The shelves are full of unread magazines, journals and papers and no readers are allowed to take them and sit on the sofas in the back room and read them.

I asked the staff on duty that morning when it was going to be possible to use the back room sofas and armchairs for reading. They were very concerned that the area would be hard to monitor.

"This is seriously affecting my quality of life," I whined. "All these journals and no-one to read them. You know that my Saturday mornings here are one of the high points of my week."

Then W. pipes up: "I thought you were allowed to read in the back room. You did it once, didn't you?"

"Yes," I replied. "But I thought that that was a special dispensation because I was supposed to be doing the children's story time hour that day."

"Ah, but I thought the special dispensation applied to you every Saturday," W. said.

Now they tell me!

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make use of this special dispensation for a month, what with a walking holiday, a public holiday and a walk and book sale planned during that time.

As soon as it is possible, though, I shall gather an armful of journals, magazines and newspapers and firmly ensconce myself into the corner of my favourite sofa for four hours. It'll be sheer bliss.