how may i help you?

I got an email this morning from a lady who works for a local authority, explaining that the local library where one of our authors is speaking next month is now '____ Community Resource Centre, not ____ Library.'

How enlightening.

Local authorities everywhere were inspired by the example of Willesden Green Library Centre whose wheelchair-friendly doors slid open a couple of years ago. It advertises itself as an Information One Stop Shop. My local 'library' has recently relocated a bit further down the high street, to make way for some charming luxury Barrett commuter apartments. The building it now occupies was once a Presto, then a Safeway, and then, finally, a discount fabric warehouse. It now houses a room with some shelves, lots of computers, a cafe and a youth centre.

This is Wealdstone, which has the misfortune of being located at the end of the 'Are we there yet?' Bakerloo Line, a tube track that bears all the scars of bad town planning and late 20th-century suburban neglect. In many ways it has become a satellite of Brent, the borough that the aforementioned train intersects.

Harrow and Wealdstone station is where are I start and end each day.