In 1984, as a recent graduate who imagined a future in rock and roll, art or literature, I took a temporary job in Tooting selling books out of a Transit van for brother and sister Robert and Penny Collie. Little did I know then that the temporary job would become a lifetime career – first helping run the direct sales operation with the fleet of Transit vans and then working on the fledgling Postscript mail order business in 1987 for which I picked and packed the first order, and became buyer and catalogue manager in 1996. Fast forward to 2017 when I left full-time employment (as manager of the Postscript catalogue) to become a freelance buyer working from home which I still do with a passion.
In addition to my addiction to the printed word and the joy of handling books, my life has involved variously tai chi and qigong (I have trained in different styles and the discipline still keeps me sane to this day), and music – as a pianist and keyboard player I have been involved in ska and reggae bands and written and produced sound track music for theatre projects. These interests permeate my book-buying and occasionally in Postscript you will see titles sneaking in covering tai chi, Buddhism, 60’s psychedelic music, jazz and blues, and beatnik literature alongside the standard fare of steam locomotives and crime fiction.
