Matt Ferraz's Blog - Posts Tagged "charing-cross"
Charing Cross Road's Basements
I've been wandering around Charing Cross Road a lot, and if there's something that fascinates me about that neighbourhood is its bookshops' basements. Not every bookshop has them, only the older ones. Usually the ground floor has the catalogued books, separated by theme and author, and each one has its price tag. But when you go to the basement, the books all have the same price (usually seven or eight quid) and you have to find the one you want by yourself, because they aren't catalogued in the shop's system.
The stairs are usually very old, and going down them to the basement is like going back to the womb, where everything is simple and comforting. When you're in that basement, you can hear the tube train passing by your side, as you forget the traffic up there, where London is alive and agitated. You see those old, rare books, and some of them haven't been opened for years. There's a scent of old paper and dust that plays with your nose, making you sneeze. Those books have been waiting a long time for the right person to come by and claim them, and if that person isn't you, just return them to the shelves, so they can continue their waiting.
As you walk upstairs the light of the day gets in your eyes, and you know you're back to the world. And if you carry a book with you up those stairs, you are bringing it back to life - all that for eight quid! Not a bad deal.
The stairs are usually very old, and going down them to the basement is like going back to the womb, where everything is simple and comforting. When you're in that basement, you can hear the tube train passing by your side, as you forget the traffic up there, where London is alive and agitated. You see those old, rare books, and some of them haven't been opened for years. There's a scent of old paper and dust that plays with your nose, making you sneeze. Those books have been waiting a long time for the right person to come by and claim them, and if that person isn't you, just return them to the shelves, so they can continue their waiting.
As you walk upstairs the light of the day gets in your eyes, and you know you're back to the world. And if you carry a book with you up those stairs, you are bringing it back to life - all that for eight quid! Not a bad deal.
