Show & Tell: Borders

Apologies for another late Show & Tell... A busy weekend is my excuse; it started with girls' dinner on Friday, followed by a much needed sleep-in on Saturday, shopping and a 40th surprise party on Saturday, and Sunday we had apartment viewings, flying and dinner at Peter's uncle on the agenda.

For this week's Show & Tell Petta has chosen gränser, i.e. borders or limit(ation)s. The first thing that popped into my mind was Borders bookstore, and not Borders in general but the Borders in Oxford, which is probably the Borders I have spent most time in (even if it was some years ago now; early 2000s). As many Borders around the world it became a victim of the economic crisis and was closed down, but the memories always remain.



I don't think I actually bought that many books in there (so maybe I contributed to its demise?); actually I probably bought more coffees than books, even though it is likely I spent more on books than coffee, given books tend to cost more than a latte (unless it's one of those 3 for the price of 2 deals perhaps). Most visits to Borders actually entailed spending time in the Starbucks at the back of the store, usually with my friend Kim.



My standard order was a regular latte in the winter and a frappucino in the summer. Now I can't drink frappucinos any more, at least not with cream; instead I prefer a simple iced latte without sugar.



And then we sat there for hours reading gossip magazines! :)



Now when I visit Oxford (not very often but it happens - Kim still lives in the area with her family) we go to what is probably the best bookshop and the one that counts as the "real", i.e. University bookshop, namely Blackwell's. They also have a café where you can sit for hours, though it's more frequented by students actually studying than reading gossip :)



Reminiscing about my time in Oxford also reminds me of one of the first things I learned as a political science (and especially international relations) student related to borders, namely the fact that you have a fundamental right to leave a country (even if it doesn't always apply in pratice) but not to enter another one. I understand that's how the modern world is organised* and that there are lots of (practical) reasons why you cannot allow people to migrate freely across the world, but I wish it wasn't so.



* That said, the nation state is really only 400 years old so does not necessarily have to be a given or a constant at all...