Tertium Quid

Right.

I think I need to back up a bit and provide some answers. Why was I there? What happened before?

Well, in this book - I mean "blog", dammit - I can put my powerful 4X4 in reverse and traverse a few of the muddy years before I arrived at the Convent.

You see, I have always been a bibliophile - lover of books, if you need an explanation, reader.

Sorry.

Have you wondered why my diary was entitled "Galehaut"? Do you know Dante? Boccaccio? Probably not. Look it up on Bling or Coogle, whatever.

Sorry, again.

In Dante's majestic Divine Comedy and Cantos (not those of that awful Pound, whom I now call "Kilo" after going metric), there is a lovely story of Francesca et Paolo. Two young lovers brought together by a book:

"...and Gallehaut was witness to their love, Galehaut dropped and they read no more that day" (my translation).

The point is that two people were brought together, in love, by a text. A third thing - or tertium quid.

This is the magic of books and the reason I was an antiquarian bookseller for so many years.

I'll talk more about the rough trade of book-selling and how that sent me to the UK shortly.