Another Walk Around Unicorn Tree Books - Video Tour!

It's been a while since we last took a video tour of the shop (About a year actually!) so today we thought we'd take a stroll around it to see what's changed and share it with those of our friends that can't make it in person into the shop but do visit us here on the blog, and support us through our various internet shopping venues such as www.lincolnbookshop.co.uk, www.lincolnchristianbookshop.co.uk & http://www.hive.co.uk/shop/lincoln/unicorn-tree-books-crafts.
Thank you all and we hope you enjoy your video visit :D

Remember we are here to serve you and we really appreciate your support - go on Shop Local and use an Independent - it's better for all of us when we go local to go global ;-)

So we'll look forward to seeing you, recieving an email from you, chatting on the phone (01522 525557) with you or even facebooking or twittering with you when you come in for your church or personal supplies - or indeed for any other reason too!

New Look Church Partnership Accounts Launched!

We are very happy to announce our New Look Church Partnership Accounts!

At Unicorn Tree Books we know that Christian books, Bibles, music and resources form a vital part of the church's ministry.

We realise that there are great financial pressures on churches & community ventures at this time and we are committed to helping you by providing the best possible prices we can for Christian resources on the High Street & in the Diocese.

That is why we are now really happy to offer you the Church Partnership Account Scheme.

The Account Scheme is a way in which we can help to support your ministry or organisation, by offering discount, credit facilities, bulk purchasing and sale-or-return services, in exchange for what we hope will be your continued loyalty to us. It is available to all Churches registered in the UK and other Community & Institutional Organisations too.

Additionally we give a Ministry Discount Card to all Signatories of the Account for Personal Purchases. These Ministry Discount Cards may also be available for others involved in your church or community ministries too - Just ask us.

We are officially launching this new Scheme at the Lincoln Diocesan Clergy Conference next week, but wanted to give all our other customers the heads up too!
We would be delighted to talk to you about it, and even set up accounts with and for you.

We really hope that this is some small way that we can work together.

Here's a copy of the leaflet - you can even print it out, fill it in and send it back to us for us to get started on opening an account up and filling in your Ministry Discount Cards ready for you to start using and making savings with! 
(Just Click on the pictures to see them at full size)

Remember we are here to serve you and we really appreciate your support - go on Shop Local and use an Independent - it's better for all of us when we go local to go global ;-)

So we'll look forward to seeing you, recieving an email from you, chatting on the phone (01522 525557) with you or even facebooking or twittering with you when you come in for your church or personal supplies - or indeed for any other reason too!

An Ebook Reader Christmas? You can still support Local Bookshops!

Despite what everyone seems to be saying ebooks & your local bookshop don't have to be a mutually exclusive proposition - in fact there are a few ways you can happily use both, thus benefitting your local community and your digital drive!

Here are our very easy suggestions:

Go to our webshop http://www.lincolnbookshop.co.uk/ & use our ebook affilliate links - this is perfect for buying Kindles on and for buying kindle books through - as each sale using this link helps us just a little and costs you nothing more than to favourite the site and click through for your purchases of any amazon product ;-)

Come into the shop (or email/phone/tweet/Facebook us) and buy a National Book Token from us & then you can buy ebooks with it at http://www.hive.co.uk/shop/lincoln/unicorn-tree-books-crafts/
Hive has multiple ebook formats available (though not kindle) and you can also buy Google Ebooks through them as well.
Every single sale from hive.co.uk helps an independent bookshop - not always us depending on where you are but it will always be supporting a local independent bookshop! (and sometimes it's even been known for the books to be cheaper than Amazon's price!).

So there you go - easy ways it can be an Ebook Christmas without being Scrooge like for your local Independent Bookshop here on the High Street or in The Market :D

Remember we are here to serve you and we really appreciate your support - go on Shop Local - it's better for all of us when we go local to go global ;-)

So we'll look forward to seeing you, recieving an email from you, chatting on the phone (01522 525557) with you or even facebooking or twittering with you!

Oh and happy season, may the coffee be good and the chocolate be rich and may it be a cool yule and a Blessed Christmas & New Year to all you friends out there!
 

Polskie książki teraz dostępny! - Polish books available!

Polskie książki teraz dostępny przy Unicorn Tree Books!

Wielu głównych autorów fikcji i style zarządzili w - inne tytuły mogą być zarządzone na życzenie!

Yes, That's right, Polish books coming to Unicorn Tree Books soon!
Many top fiction authors and styles ordered in - other titles can be ordered on request! 

We are really happy to say that we are now able to source a wide range of books in Polish so that we can better serve our new neighbours and friends here in Lincoln and across Lincolnshire. 

We are committed to really being a bookshop that serves the community we are in, and so getting in Polish books really was an important item on our list of how we can better serve the community. 

We are really happy to have found a supplier in Gardner's Books that also feels that committment and is carrying polish language titles as part of their stock range too, the added benefit here is that these books are also available on www.hive.co.uk - the website that supports independent local bookshops through every sale of a book or ebook download.

The first selection of fiction in Polish will be here in the shop and on the shelves by Wednesday 21st December, with an expanded range to follow in mid January. 
It's hoped the choice should appeal to a broad range of readers with some crime, thriller, romance and childrens books too!

We are starting out with a small selection but as people come in and let us know what they are interested in and as they spread the word we really hope to be able to grow the range and space given to these books to really be able to serve our growing multi-lingual community.

Books can be ordered - just let us know the title you are after and we'll do our best to get it.
Remember you can either pop in to the shop to order in store (and check the shleves to see what we already have in stock) or you can go online to www.hive.co.uk where you can then have them delivered either to your home or arrange to collect them direct from Unicorn Tree Books.


Remember we are here to serve you and we really appreciate your support - go on Shop Local - it's better for all of us when we go local to go global ;-)


So we'll look forward to seeing you, recieving an email from you, chatting on the phone (01522 525557) with you or even facebooking or twittering with you!



Jesteśmy bardzo szczęśliwi z tego,  że jesteśmy teraz w stanie pozyskać szeroki wachlarz książek po polsku, tak abyśmy mogli lepiej służyć naszym nowych sąsiadów i przyjaciół w Lincoln oraz w Lincolnshire

Jesteśmy zajęci się naprawdę będąc księgarnią, która pracuje dla społeczności jesteśmy w, zatem dostając po polsku książki naprawdę był ważną rzeczą na naszej liście z jak lepiej możemy pracować dla społeczności.

Cieszymy się znaleźć w Gardners Books dostawca, który jest zobowiązany do dostarczania książek również po polsku jako część ich pasma towaru. teżdodatkowa korzyść oto to te książki są również dostępne na www.hive.co.uk - serwis internetowy, który podtrzymuje niezależne lokalne księgarnie przez każdą sprzedaż książki albo ebook pobieranie danych.

Pierwsze książki fikcji po polsku będzie tu w sklepie i na półkach przed środą, z rozszerzonym zakresem nastąpić później w styczniu.
Miało nadzieję, że wybór będzie pracować dla szerokiego zakresu czytelników z jakimś kryminałem, romans i childrens książki również!

Startujemy z małym wyborem ale jako ludzie odwiedzać i mówić nam jakich książek oni chcą, i ponieważ oni rozpowszechniają wiadomość o naszym serwisie, naprawdę mamy nadzieję móc rosnąć zakres i przestrzeń daną tym książkom aby naprawdę móc pracować dla naszej rosnącej wielo-językowej społeczności.

Książki można zamawiać - daj nam znać tytuł szukasz, a my dołożymy wszelkich starań, aby je zdobyć.Pamiętaj, możesz wstąpić do sklepu na zamówienie w sklepie (i sprawdzić shleves aby zobaczyć, co mamy już w sprzedaży) lub możesz zobaczyć w Internecie www.hive.co.uk gdzie można je dostarczony do domu lub zorganizować je odebrać bezpośrednio z Książki Unicorn Tree Books.

Pamiętać, że mamy tu obsłużyć cię i dziękuję za twoje wsparcie.
Proszę robić zakupy Lokalny - to jest lepsze na wszystko gdy idziemy do pobliskich sklepów do mieć globalnych rzeczy; -)

Więc nie będziemy móc się doczekać widzenia cię, recieving e-mail od ciebie, gadając przez telefon (01522 525557) z tobą albo nawet facebooking albo świergocząc z tobą!

We are starting a Crafters Exchange here - it's a bit like a crafters swap shop!

Unicorn Tree Crafters Exchange

We are starting a Crafters Exchange here – basically that means that you can bring along an item such as a rubber stamp or punch you no longer use and get a credit for it to use on craft items from us!

So do you have craft items that you loved but now never use?
Or maybe something that came in a set that just isn’t your thing?
Rubber stamps, punches, scissors, embellishments – maybe even packs of cards and books of papers you’ve never touched?
Then how about exchanging them for a discount on something you might use??

Go on think about it, after all in the words of the giants ‘every little bit helps!’ oh and don’t forget to tell others, after all who knows what gems are out there sitting dusty in craft cupboards everywhere!

Now for the not as fun but just as important bit:
Even the art of creative self-expression has to work with some sort of guidelines!
So there are some rules and guidelines to the Crafters Exchange Scheme –

Some of which are pretty obvious like Only items in good condition can be exchanged.

Now we appreciate rubber stamps get inky and that’s fine so long as they are cleaned before you bring them in – also they must make perfect impressions.
Scissors & Punches too must be in perfect condition and cut or punch smoothly and cleanly.
Cards & Papers must be full sets & unused.

Any and all credits given are entirely at our discretion and terms and conditions apply - you can get the full set of these at the shop :)
Please note this is a Credit Scheme only and we do not ever give cash, all credit/exchange vouchers have a nil cash value.

So there we go, another way you can share and save - we think it's a great idea and we hope you do too! So go on tell others and let's see what we can find after all one crafters decoupage is another crafters topper!

Unicorn Tree Books & Crafts. Central Market, Sincil Street, Lincoln. LN5 7ET
T: 01522 525557 E: unicorntreebooks@aol.com Facebook: Unicorn Tree Books
www.cardmakersupplies.co.uk & www.lincolnartistsupplies.co.uk

Last Chance for Christmas & may it be a peaceful one for all

Well here we are the Thursday before Christmas, I wanted to be able to tell you all that we would be staying open late this Thursday along with all the other shops and the Cornhill Market but unfortunately not as Lincoln City Council bods wouldn't allow it without us traders paying for the staffing, even though the staff are already here for the extra hour or so, ahh well, how very sad.
Still don't despair! I'm here till 4pm as usual and will be here tomorrow for your last minute christmas purchases.
I want to take this time to wish all of my blog friends, customers, minion types, suppliers and visitors a really blessed and peaceful Christmas, filled with Joy, love and laughter, enough to last not only through Christmas but all through what's left of this year and well into the next new one and on.
I really appreciate all of you and thank you for your support, smiles and custom - long may we continue to trade and entertain each other.
Merry Christmas to you all!

Praise where it's due

I believe it's important to give praise where its due and so I want to take this space to thank some people for doing a grand job through this last week or so of horrendous weather.

Andy Bradley, the onsite supervisor here at Lincoln Central Market, has worked really hard to keep the market open and trading every day during this nasty weather, despite the fact that many other places closed and he could have taken that option as many others did. Instead he thought first of the traders and their livelihoods and despite it all came in and ensured it was open and heated for us! Thank You Andy and your Team of Paul & Emma.

I would also like to say thanks to Paul Bolden, one of Andy's team.
Last Monday when the place flooded even though Paul wasn't officially at work, when told of the problem by Ben Lockley, offered to come down with him and then worked hard to finally stop the flood that had been going on for quite a long while by this point. He then acted as a really good and concerned member of the Lincoln Central Market team and family and stayed on in his own personal time to help clear up the spill.

Now if only there were more like Andy & Paul - they are the real credit to my mind and at this time to Lincoln City Council - I am quite sure there are others like them and I only wish I had come across them to date!

If you know of any others who deserve an accolade or even a thanks like this - then do it, say it, post it - you can even put it in the comments here!

READuce, READuse, READcycle at Unicorn Tree Books

READuce, READuse, READcycle

Help save the planet, choose secondhand books - and get them from us :0) 

Because we give you a credit against the ones you bring in to us to use against the others you buy from us!

However you can't always buy a secondhand book; someone has to buy it new first for it to become secondhand and if you want to read that fave authors newest book when it comes out then secondhand just isn't likely to be an option, so you can buy that New Book from us first (because we are cheaper than some!) and then when you bring it back you will get a credit on it too, and if the book was purchased from us first then the credit you get will be higher than if you purchased it elsewhere!

Remember when buying books, New or Secondhand, the greenest option is always to take the bus (or walk or cycle!) down to your local Secondhand and New bookshop like us here at Unicorn Tree Books thus saving the shipping CO2 from buying online, but if you can't find it locally then buying secondhand online is still a good bet so please use us at www.lincolnbookshop.co.uk or www.lincolnchristianbookshop.co.uk where you can find New & Secondhand Books (and lots more) and keep supporting your local shops and community as well as doing your bit for the global community.

 

 Go Local to Go Global, local communities supporting local businesses build a better world and support a healthy global economy and network – and make the world just a little bit greener to boot!

 

So looking forward to seeing you and remember mines a Caramel Latte should you be so inclined, and the minions? Macchiato's or Hot Chocolates I do believe! but even without the essential life giving brews we will look forward to seeing you in the shop soon and chatting about the good book your reading or recommended author of the minute :0)

 

Think Local, Buy Local, Be Local - Don't let our local business become a thing of the past!

Now as you know we really are committed to you all and want to support you in the best way we can!

We set up the Church and Community Partnership Scheme to really work with and support the local communities, because we want to give to the local community, we want to be part of that community actively and integrally.

We host events, buy tables, run classes, start groups and make blogs because we want to be involved with our community.

We know how hard it is to always get into the shop so we have set up ways for you to shop online with us, so you can still go local to go global.

In fact we want to be part of the community - an integral, fulfilling and active part of the community.

We hope you want us to be part of the community as well!

To this end then we need your help - we need you to support us too because being a small local indie business is getting harder and harder, So please use us whenever you can - you know we will go that extra mile for you!

And Yes, as you know and we have always admitted - all the things we do such as above are not completely self sacrificing, they are as much for our benefit as yours - but then thats what community is all about, working together for the betterment of both, of all!

So please, here are some posters - 
can you perhaps print one out and stick it up somewhere visable:

church, school, Dr's Surgery, community hall, house window, car window
(all right the last two are unlikely but really how cool would that be - how cool would you be to do that, to really show full out grass roots support!).

Can you tell people about us please, real people you see and know, share the knowledge of us and that we are here, perhaps on your own blog or facebook pages you could include links to our website(s) or even to this post, or use the poster on your blog!

Perhaps in your emails in the signature section you could include one of our links? Recommend us on your twitter stream?

Please support us - shop with us and share with us and share us with others.

let's be community minded and share news with our community - wherever and whoever they may be.

And you know if there is something you want sharing, something you want spreading to the community then let us know, bring us a poster to put up in the shop, send us a note to blog or twitter about, let us know about your links too!

You see if we think local, buy local and be local the whole community and economy naturally and vigorously grows strong and healthy and vibrant! All we have to do is start sharing and spreading the message, start thinking of each other as part of the whole - the community.

So go on, stick up a poster, add a link and use the shop and the sites!

It makes sense!

Now remember, when you come in to have a chat, share the news, or as you bring a poster to put up or leaflets to hand out, mine's a caramel latte and you can have whatever you want too! oh and if I recall right I think the minions mostly drink hot chocolate - see how community minded I am, I even remember the minions!

The websites are:

www.lincolnbookshop.co.uk

www.lincolnchristianbookshop.co.uk

www.jigsawsandmore.co.uk

www.cardmakersupplies.co.uk

www.centralmarketlincoln.co.uk

www.christianbookshopuk.co.uk

You can join us on twitter: @unicorntreebks

Friend us on Facebook, or join our facebook group

Please think local, buy local, be local and support us where you can, just use the websites and pass on the info wherever you can - and in return we'll try to be the best we can for you, just let us know what you want and need and how we in turn can help you, our community and our friends.

Can't resist this - it's fantastic really, at the end just change the one word 'America' to 'Britain'! and remember  I'd love to see you in the shop soon :0)

Independents Week - it's about community!

This is based on the body of something I just posted on facebook and thought it deserved a bigger airing.
It comes from the fact in the US it is Independent Week, now here in the UK we have Indpendent's Book Week that is a great idea, over in the states they are doing this - but their indie week is actaully for all indies regardless of type of business and this rocks!!
(Some links to find out more! http://amiba.net/independents_week.html)
The stats that are being released as to how buying from indies benefits the community they are based in do roughly hold true here too!
So it's defintely worth considering and remembering that indie store owners live and work in the community and therefore pay fully towards it and are totally invested in it - is this truly true of chain stores or internet shops? yes the staff are local but the profits and put back where do they end up??

This is the body of text taken from the fantastic www.indiebound.com - The US based fantastic Independent Bookshops Website - I totally would love something like this here in the UK!

Why shop Indie?

When you shop at an independently owned business, your entire community benefits:
The Economy

* Spend $100 at a local and $68 of that stays in your community. Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43.
* Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors.
* More of your taxes are reinvested in your community--where they belong.

The Environment

* Buying local means less packaging, less transportation, and a smaller carbon footprint.
* Shopping in a local business district means less infrastructure, less maintenance, and more money to beautify your community.

The Community

* Local retailers are your friends and neighbors—support them and they’ll support you.
* Local businesses donate to charities at more than twice the rate of national chains.
* More independents means more choice, more diversity, and a truly unique community.

Now is the time to stand up and join your fellow individuals in the IndieBound mission supporting local businesses and celebrating independents.


Now before anyone says it - I am not on about Independent's Week - I know we do that as booksellers and publishers anyway, and most other business sphere's have some sort of thing once a year as well.

What I am talking about is things like independent booksellers foundation and the real way the indies are working together for example via www.indiebound.org
We need to be doing this - regardless of the style, speciality or size of our indie stores, unite together but working indie style.
Bookshops aside indie shops of all sorts should be working together!
Supporting, networking, building our communities!
Yes the FSB does a good job (I am a member - www.fsb.org.uk/) but we need something more still - more focused on working together in the community and supporting each other.
Community centred but national and global in sharing idea's and working together independently for the good of communities everywhere!

Come on let's do it - and community come on share with us, support us, love us - we know we need you and we know we love you and will do that extra for you - you're our neighbours and friends!

ps - this year at Christmas we gave over £100 to Lindon Listening Ears - a lincoln based Free Bereavment Counselling Service - we like to give to local charities! and we give to national ones too.

Buy Local to Keep Local People In Jobs!

Buy local to keep local people in jobs
Lincolnshire Bites Back buy local campaign This is Lincolnshire.

This is an important idea and something I would like to remind people of, because buying local isn’t just about food, it’s about everything!

Yes that includes bookshops as well - sure it is probably easier late at night or sitting at the desk to buy from Amazon or one of the other names, ( and no I don’t blame you and I entirely understand where you are coming from!) but the truth is when you do that you do run the risk of loosing your local shop, and with it the employee’s of that shop loosing their jobs, and in the longer term the benefits to your community!

There are ways to support your local shop and work with them and still have the benefits of quick fix shopping or savings.

In our case you can use our Amazon Affiliates shop, thus benefitting ourselves and yourself. Don’t go straight to amazon.com, instead bookmark us and go through our affiliate link!

Sure we would prefer you just used us directly, dropped us an email ( unicorntreebooks@aol.com ) or twitter us, or even leave us an phone message (01522 525557) telling us the book you want and then we could get it for you and supply it, it’s entirely possibly we might even have it in already. If you can’t pick it up we can post it, but if you can pick it up it’s great! we can chat and you might even see some other things you want and we might even share our sweets with you!

Please think local first, - we want to serve you, we want to support you, we want to work with you - we really need you and we know it, and maybe one day you will really need us and then we truly will know we are part of the same community that works and lives together.

Ok so that’s the non-party political broadcast and begging session over! normal service will resume in the bookshop and I will be the one sucking down the caramel flavoured coffee whilst fighting new booking in systems! Say hello and save me! see you in the bookshop, on twitter, or any of the other methods we can be a community together!

Some days the dragon wins

There really are some days the dragon wins, and there are some days it just doesn't win but it chews you up, spits you out and then flame roasts you to top it off! and today was one of those days.

First of all everyone is suffering cold symptoms thus making the day feel full of fun from the start, then its Christmas decoration time (Bah humbug - can we say carbon emmission protocols! what's with the lights and electricity overuse!) so lights are going up and thats a lot of work for the minions to do - though they seemed to be enjoying it and after decorating one space wanted to continue on! maybe i should get them some elf ears to go with the red noses from the cold symptoms??

So anyway thats all going on and customers are coming in ( that we like) and we are getting on with the serving when in the middle of trying to do one thing, I am expected to  multitask another job. so not fair and the day goes on.

Anyway suffice to say slightly later on we have a minion meltdown - probably caused by an excess of christmas lights and cold symptoms - but one of the minions has a dosey of a meltdown and goes home. Lets hope it all blows over soon and they are back at work as normal in due course as life without minions is so unfulfilling at times.

Anyway life goes on after minion, and I begin to re-enter the order that the computer ate on Saturday - I kid you not, saturday was a busting day - very christmas shopper busy - lots of Military and Steam Engine DVD's whizzing out the store, along with books,  jigsaws and Paint by Numbers and to top it off I had a spinner and four massive boxes of Velvet Arts delivered - very nice designs of Playboy Bunnies being Exterminated by Daleks whilst Betty Boop stands and screams and Homer Simpson wonders whats going on! hey whizzed out the shop too, well at £1.25 or 5 for £5 they are just too good a bargain to stay still!

So anyway they came in and i had 2 bumper boxes of Fairway Christian Books to get on the system and out, so i duly batch them through like a trojan, all scanned found and entered, and then shelved - I then whizzed on to putting out the 186 secondhand books that were sitting on the counters waiting to be stickered and shelved - did that just to have  a woman bring in 56 Josephine Cox books that then have to be dealt with - and I do, but then someone else comes in with 27 various sci-fi authors, I tell you it was never ending! but by the end of the day it was all done! yahhoo! 

However today i go to do stock re-ordering and find that the fairway books that have been sold are showing as not on the system!!! so i dig deeper as that cannot be right! and sure enough it isn't right, they are on the system - they are there, i did not dream entering 37 lines oh no - I did indeed enter them but in the wrong darn database! it would seem that there are 2 databases on the system and that on saturday the wrong one was opened for some reason and all the days work was entered onto the old dead database and not the nice new live one! and can they be transferred? no they have to be re-input! 

Still at least it explains why the database seems to sometimes eat titles we know we have had in! They are there in the wrong database! so what causes the wrong database to open occasionally - well on that one we do not have a clue, but at least we now know to check the database first thing in the morning so we can rectify any future fiasco's like this.

Talking of dragons! 

Anne and Todd McCaffrey's latest dragons of Pern book is now on the shelves, both American and UK covers are in!

It's called Dragon's Fire (ISBN: 978-0345480293) and is priced at £6.99 and is an absolutely brilliant book for Pern fans, what is so brilliant about it for me though is that one of the main characters in it is disabled, he cannot speak, and this really adds some extra dimension to the story. So anyway this is a really good book and well worth a read - I must admit to liking the collaborative books between ms McCaffrey and her son in the pern-verse and this one is good - pop in and get it ( oh and the US cover is much more colourful than the UK edition!).

So anyway that was the fun today, being a bookshopboss is sometimes a lot like work! see you in the shop tomorrow.

OOH how time flies & we have an officially nominated charity to support!

Ohh, who knew bookselling could be such hard work, and so grubby, boks just are filthy filthy things - and no thats not a referecne to those black lace books up on the top shelf at the back of the shop, or those paranormal sex crazed vampire novels such as Laurel K. Hamilton and Sherilyn Kenyon & Christine Feehan write, or even the Blaze range of Mills & Boon books, though it could be an apt description - how rude!! no I mean that books are dust gatherers, I reckon even if the building ws hemetically sealed books would still get grubby!
White shirts are out, cream trousers! never, black is the cool and sensible colour of the bookshop manager!
Anyway enough of that, I have in the last three months been busy rejigging the shop so all the books fit and are in some semblence of order! We are almost there with cataloguing and zapping them into the computer system too! it will be great when its done, well one hopes it will.
Last year we gave £87.00 to various charities through the pennies that people are generous to leave behind, so see that addage about looking after the pennies is apt! as after all when I say the pennies left behind I do mean exactly that, that £87.00 was from 1p pieces left over from lots of £6.99 books etc. Actaully we gave more than that but thats the amount that came solely from Customers pennies.
So this year we are doing the same sort of thing but adding a bit more kick and emphasis where we can!
We have read a book (well more than one! but only the one on this subject!) about being socially and ethically good, so we are attempting to redunce our carbon footprint in the shop - turning off equipment we dont use often and just popping it on when we need it! and we are recycling our cardboard and paper and plastics, we also have a recycling4charity collection box for inkjet cartridges and mobile phones and £1.00 for each cartridge and up to £20 for each phone will go to Habitat for Humanity (GB) to help provide low cost and essential housing both in the UK and abroad! so if you are visiting then drop off your old cartridges!
And we are also supporting a great charity called ClearVision - they take ordinary books and using a clear acetate sheet they braille it and then pop it back into the rebound books, this means that these books can be used by both Blind and Sighted readers! so Children can read to parents and parents to children, young people can read to each other or share their books regardless of whether they can see or not! is that not the best idea!! It costs about £7.00 to turn an ordinary childs book into a braille/sighted book that can be used over and over, so we would like it if you would help us support this great endeavour - to that aim we have set up a justgiving charity fund raising page and would love it if you could find it in you to visit and donate! by the way if you are near the shop you can come in and see one of these great books! its really impressive. So come by and visit and find it to help this great charity if you possibly can by going here:

Anyway so thats what we are doing for this year so far, well that and cleaing books and book shelves over and over again!
oh yes and remember to come visit our nearly proper website at www.lincolncentralmarket.co.uk if you have the time.
anyway enough from me - have to go runa bookshop by myself again tomorrow and its already very late! ta ta for now!