While JW explained the set-up of the book display and encouraged us to invite potential customers to her sale the next day, I set to work grilling sausages and bacon for the hungry EdCM friends eagerly awaiting breakfast in our kitchen. I would have liked to have invited school librarians to JW’s event, but its timing between Christmas and New Year was not ideal. DT couldn’t make it to the flat for sausages and bacon so JW and I joined her later in a café on Leith Street for (our) breakfast number 2. JW and DT ordered fruit salad. They were each presented with three tiny scraps: a section of tangerine, a single grape and a slice of apple. My bowl of muesli was more substantial, but so was the price: £9.98! All I could think of were the uneaten sausages back at the flat.

As I walked across the hall at Olympia to the main conference I spotted a familiar group. All eight people were the same person, my fellow programme committee member GS. It was not until I reached her/them that I discovered my mistake. There was only one GS, and she was accompanied by seven members of an Indian/Japanese delegation. I returned to my spot at the exhibition to set out my wares. The exhibitor costs were so high this year that everyone had made prior arrangements to share stands. My partner was Chris, a representative of a professional body special interest group. Our tiny display table was only just a little bigger than an economy airline tray. This would be a tight squeeze. Even so, I insisted that my red lava lamp took a prominent position on the table.