A trip to Harold Hill and a very important lady!

Do I look like I am gazing at this lady in awe????  Well she is the big boss lady of Havering Libraries and she wanted to have her picture taken with ME!  Ann (she told me to call her that and not ma'am!) has heard all about my blog and wanted to meet ME!  We had a lovely chat together - she has a new grandson so I think she was very comfortable holding me so close - she kept saying how lovely my hoodie was (think she had designs on it for her little sweetie!). 

I was so proud to meet her and we chatted about libraries and all the things that go on in them - I had no idea that libraries were involved in so many different things - they really are "Community Living Rooms!". For instance - at Harold Hill they have Baby Bounce (for the little ones)Read and Rhyme, lots of class visits, a Teen Zone, Reading Buddies, Homework Helpers, Teen Zone, lots of fun things going on in the holidays, a reading group, Young at Heart Group (need to be polite when I describe this - actually, think I wont try and then I wont get in trouble!) - they also have people from the council to help with benefits advice and things - oh and Learn Direct and CAB - phew - thats only the things I remembered from my chat to Ann - I am sure there were more though!   I did have a lovely little chat with Ann - there are such nice people in libraries.....

And here is one of them.....this is Karen showing off one of the special bags that have been made to celebrate the 50th birthday of Harold Hill Library.  Gosh 50 years is such a long time - Josh's Mum said she used to work at the library as a library assistant - she seemed very miffed when I asked if she used to look out and see the dinosaurs walking past in the mornings!  I still dont know why she went so huffy!

I bet you cant guess what is making that bulky shape in the bag - oh you can?  Oh - well yes you are right.....its me!

Karen said that it would be a great photo to have me in the bag!  Hmmmmm - I dont THINK it was anything to do with me keep chattering when Josh's Mum and her were trying to get on with some work!  The reason we were at Harold Hill was so that Josh's Mum could come and look around the library and make sure it was all tidy - it really was!  But then we went into Karen's office and it was so full up of boxes - dont know how she can possibly squeeze herself into it and do the fabulous work she does!  Karen is an absolute sweetie who really cares about the people who live in Harold Hill and who visit her library.  Although, I am not so sure she likes chattering monkies quite as much!

Mind you, she couldnt have disliked me too much as she gave me a special mug - she said it was plastic so it would be ok if I dropped it.  Did I tell you that I am sometimes a little, teensy bit clumsy?  Well, I prefer to say that things develop a life of their own around me - they just always seem to be jumping up and trying to escape! 

Hmmm - not sure what Josh's Mum was thinking of when she took this picture - really wasnt one of her best!  I did tell her that she should be careful not to let the bright light coming in the window mess with her camera but did she listen?....well view for yourselves!   I still wanted to put this picture up though (despite the quality) because it shows the wonderful Wall of Happiness!  All of those little coloured splodges are actually post-it notes (or something of the like!) and lots and lots of people have written what makes them happy on it.

A surprising number of people wrote chocolate and their families.  I think I would have written a good back scratch!  And maybe a nice banana.  And, of course, my mate Josh.  And his mum (have to write that as she reads the blog before I post!).  And....my new job in libraries!  YAY!  This other picture is not to show the computers (although they are free to use and are connected to the internet and you can get lots of online stuff like encyclopaedias) but it was to show the size of the Wall of Happiness - the people coming into the library certainly seem to have a lot of happiness in their lives!

 Phew, my hands are quite tired now - going to have a mug of hot chocolate in my new Harold Hill Library mug!  Night Night

Monkey Monkey x