The worst of times, the best of times

One of the great things about running the bookshop is the lifestyle side of things. Essentially Nicki and I job share, splitting working in the shop with spending time at home with the kids. That's the theory anyway. The reality is lots of rushing around once the kids go to bed, having late night 'meetings' and trying to cram in all the crazy things we've got planned for the next few months. The whole thing generally works well - but last week we were all ill. Anyone who has young kids will tell you what an utter nightmare this is (why governments spend time researching into germ warfare is a mystery to me - simply expose opposing armies to gangs of sniffly toddlers and watch them drop like flies). As a family you kick into a very basic 'survival' mode. It was all a bit grim and I think I'll simply sign off on a disaster week by saying that we're all better now. And sorry a lot of email has gone unanswered... Luckily we now have some truly exceptional staff who stepped into the breach at short notice. But had we been feeling better, we would now be celebrating our nomination in the Bookseller Retail Awards for the Walker Books Children's Independent of the Year. Hooray! We wish all our fellow shortlistees the best of luck:

• The Well Wisher Bookshop
• Tales on Moon Lane
• Simply Books

Coincidentally, we've just been putting the finishing touches to a whole Summer of children's events - take a look at our updated events pages to learn more. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible...