So, today I celebrate 30 YEARS AS A BOOKSELLER! 10th July 1990 aged 17, I started a Summer job at Biggleswade Books, #Biggleswade, #Bedfordshire! Prepare for some bookselling nostalgia.. It was a small local #indie that made its money from cards & photocopying but I loved it! 1/x

I spent the Summer reading Point Horror, Jilly Cooper & Stephen King whilst serving an occasional customer. I earned £20 a day. Bertrams delivered new books once a week (highlight!) & we looked up new book info on little microfiche slides ( @phlaimeaux).

It stayed my holiday job till 1994 when I finished my Lit degree at Stoke Poly & I went to work for #Webberleys in Hanley, #StokeOnTrent. Webberley’s was a Stoke institution. A huge indie bookshop with printworks above that printed pottery catalogues. It was very brown. 3/x

I worked on the front desk, looked after academic books, did goods-in & partied A LOT. Made lifelong friends @rach_wat2017 @mags_ryder! In 1995 the Net Book Agreement collapsed & Waterstones opened right next door, high drama! I spent a lot of time discount stickering books. 4/x

1996 I jumped ship & went to work as an academic bookseller for Dillons at Univ of Reading (from a printed ad in @thebookseller mag). Two years in Reading was more than anyone should bear (but I worked for fab Gully Trevena & learned a lot about soil science & linguistics!) 5/x

1998 & I moved to Dillons City University London, nr Barbican/Islington as Asst Manager & suddenly we became a Waterstones in the HMV merger. Proud to say I did the 1st ever stock transfer between Dillons & Waterstones! Bookselling highlife indeed! I sold a lot of law books.. 6/x

We were running Alpha, #Dillons IT system based on HMV. But the fax machine was still heavily in use & websites were negligible. In 1999 I was seconded to @gowerst_books as events manager incl events w/ Michael Palin, Germaine Greer & that party to rebrand as #Waterstones... 7/x

But in 1999 I also fell in love with #Dublin after a wknd away & in 2000 I packed in the London job & moved to Dublin on a whim, aged 27. Luckily, Watersones Jervis gave me a job as Asst Manager, then the manager left, so I was helping manage a Celtic Tiger bookshop at Xmas! 8/x

I still have dreams about that Xmas! A Celtic Tiger Irish Xmas Eve was crazy & I sent half the staff home early as I thought it’d be quiet. '01 I went travelling in NZ then joined #Dublin Dawson St as Returns Manager (oh God..) for a year before Front-Of-Store/Events manager 9/x

It was the time of #Watersones centralisation : planograms & dictatorial rule “no pile shall be higher than 14 Jamie Olivers” is still my fave. The shop & level of control made me sick with stress & I was glad to leave in 2003 with a sudden move back to the UK... #DawsonSt 10/x

My (now) husband was doing teacher training & I went with him & joined Ottakars in Cheltenham w/ lovely Hereward @ylbookshop & @gemmahastilow. I loved Ottakars although IT systems were awful! But they had great energy & a fantastic team. I ended up ground floor manager... 11/x

But after a year we moved to Oxford for a teaching job & I joined @blackwells as Promotions Buyer in Beaver House. A desk job! So odd ! I was King of Spreadsheets & organised 3 for 2s, Price Promos & Xmas Campaigns. Office work took some getting used to but WEEKENDS! YAY! 12/x

But it was time to come home to my beloved #Dublin & in 2006 we returned & I joined #HughesAndHughes as Manager of Stephen's Green SC... which included a full shop refit & a re-launch as well as lot of #HarryPotter shenanigans.. 13/x

2008 & I moved to H&H Head Office as Fiction & Kids Buyer – back into an office in an industrial park in Finglas. Excel skills were back to the fore! But the Irish recession was about to hit and when we moved to a 4 day week things weren't looking good... 14/x

And finally in 2009 I fulfilled a dream I’d had since 1994 & opened my very own #indiebookshop – The Gutter Bookshop was born... The Gutter has now been open for over 10 Years – the longest I’ve ever done anything! It’s beautiful, exhausting, challenging, rewarding... 15/x

Thank u for indulging my #30YearsOfBookselling nostalgia trip! I’ve met so many inspirational booksellers & people over 30 years. It’s not what I imagined for a career but I can’t think of anything better. Books & bookshops are special & #IndieBookshops are v special! Bx 16/END