There are things from the ancient 1990’s that I kinda miss. Every once in a while one of them will pop into my head and I’ll think, yeah let’s do that! Then I’ll remember there’s no place around that will let you do that.
Today it’s used book stores. I had this image pop into my head of the four of us purusing a big used book store, like the basement of the Harvard Bookstore near Harvard Square (which isn’t the university bookstore, that’s the Coop). I had a clear picture in my head of both kids eyes lighting up with wonderment at the treasure trove of mostly forgotten literary thrills that suddenly were available to them.
Of course, they would probably both just been bored to tears because they wouldn’t be interested in anything other than new releases. A 44 year old red head can dream though, can’t he?
Two seconds after having this thought the reality set in that there are no used bookstores around here. There was one in Salem for a while but it’s gone. I tried using Google to find more, but the only ones I saw were in Boston and I’m not sure any of them are still open.
I sort of equare used book stores and used record stores. I can’t think of any shops from my Boston wanderings of the past that sold both, but when I went looking for used records I almost always stopped in used bookstores too, and vice versa. There is a used record store in Methuen, but I haven’t had a lot of luck there. It’s tiny and I’m huge, so just browsing is tough for me. Also, they don’t take credit cards. That kinda sucks. The last time I was there the one guy working actually kept all the lights off when there weren’t any customers… and I was the only customer I saw. So I’m not so sure that shop will be around indefinitely.
So that’s the sort of thing that gets into my head early on a Sunday morning. Back in the grungy 90’s I used to go to used book stores and used record stores a lot. I kinda miss them.
Of course, having instant access to almost any book on the market via Kindle or iBooks, and having access to what seems like the majority of the entire music industry via Apple Music and Spotify is pretty freaking unbelievalby awesome too, ya know?
Inside the Red Head's Head 