& = ?

Crockatt & Powell.

It's a good name I think. Could be a detective agency. Or something altogether more Dickensian. But what of the &...

When people come in and it's Adam and I there's no problem. I'm Crockatt, he's Powell. If Marie is there it's always cause for flouncing (a speciality of our feisty half-French feminist) Crockatt, Powell & Phillips. Doesn't really work. Phillips, Powell & Crockatt. Nah.

And then it came to me. Marie is the ampersand. Crockatt & Powell

Beautiful.

I'll get a slap for that I suspect but hey...

In fact I'm bitching because we had a lady in from Vogue yesterday who was doing a piece on small bookshops. She listened, made notes and asked questions as Adam and I talked the usual nonsense about the trade and our place in it. Then at the end she began talking about pictures. Yeah, of course you can take some photos we said. She looked shifty. Isn't there someone else who works here? A girl perhaps...A pretty girl? Then it clicked. Too scruffy for Vogue. (Puts me in mind of the time I was chucked out of Harrods)

But I think Marie will do us proud as the face of C & P. Till then, she's the ampersand...