So, it has been a while so here is a quick dash through the last few weeks before we get back to maps, coins and support networks.

Yes, thank you, we did well in the bookshop over Christmas. Not astounding but certainly enough to keep our heads above water with a certain air of pride.

The manager has permanently gone and we are waiting (with bated breath) for a new one.

And now we are in the dull days of trying to make silk purses out of quite a lot of sows’ ears.

All our best stock was thrown at Christmas and so we are left with the rather tired and weary – though we still get a few delights.

It is not that we don’t get donations, it is just that popular though vegetarianism is, no one wants to buy a dog-eared cookery book from the 1990s – where is an Ottolenghi when you need several?

Courtesy of central Oxfam, we were allocated several boxes of unsold Spur’s merchandise. Yes, the football club Tottenham Hotspur.

Why anyone thought the Spurs baby grows and woolly hats and picture frames would sell in a bookshop in Petersfield is beyond me ( they didn’t).

But such is their faith that we have just taken delivery of another two large boxes….

And there was one cupboard left to clear  – accessible once we got the manager’s keys back.

In it we found a full father Christmas outfit and decorations – not much use locked away until after the festive season.

And why the key to this was kept on the manager’s personal bunch of keys, well your guess is as good as mine.

There was a Hornby train set, a copy of the Petersfield post from 2009, lots of old Oxfam publicity material, a fine wood plane, another old map – yes indeed – two whisks and a mixing bowl, a used artist’s palette, a flat cap, marching compass, a stash of pendants, two silver napkin rings, a pair of new kitchen taps and a night vision monocular.

There was a time when I railed against the manager’s hoarding but now I am disappointed that we might be getting to the end of treasure hunting ( and selling.)

Mind you we do have a lot of cupboard space.