One of the advantages of being the police is that when you want to buy something slightly dodgy, you generally know where to shop. - Ben Aaronovitch

The perennial problem for retailers the world over are the customers. Not only do they clutter up the shop, but they also demand to be reminded of the title of a book they read a review about in the Telegraph, given directions to The Lion King, helped to find a book their mum will like and, occasionally, purchase some actual merchandise. All of this customer-facing activity gets in the way of the shelving, merchandising, sticking, destickering, table pyramiding and stock returning that is necessary for the smooth operation of a modern bookshop.

It’s a sad fact of modern life that if you drive long enough, sooner or later you must leave London behind.

If they were ugly, Peter, would you care half so much?" asked Nightingale. "There are some hideous things out there that can talk and reason, and I wonder if you would be quite so quick to rush to their defense."
"Maybe not," I said. "But that just makes me shallow, it doesn't make me wrong.