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A librarian on a glass trip (guest post)

A man and a woman (Richard and Alice) standing smiling in a pub, with wooden background including a partially glass door and floral stained glass windows

In this post I’m discussing:

Opportunity for a glass trip

When Richard has been on his many trips around the country over the years, collecting and delivering, and meeting with fellow stained glass enthusiasts, he has occasionally been asked whether his wife ever comes with him on these trips (or at least that’s what he tells me – maybe to keep me involved!). There is good reason why I haven’t taken up this opportunity:

  • We have two children who, while they’re getting older, do need a parent to cook them meals and keep them company
  • Though I support Richard in his business, especially with holding windows for photography, and creating Excel formulas, I do have my own job to be getting on with, as an academic librarian (and emerging researcher – which is the theme of my own blog)
A big sunray stained glass window, being held steady by a woman (Alice). Houses and a car in the background

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But at long last, in early April this year, I have been with my husband on a business trip, one which took us from London to Edinburgh and back again, with many places in between. He’s taken one or other of our children on some of these trips in the past, but only for a night or two – I had a whole five nights away! We are very lucky to have wonderful parents to look after our children while we took this ‘Busman’s holiday’.

My ‘work’ during the trip

I wasn’t only along for the ride – Richard did find me things to do:

  • I did some deliveries (from van to door!) and took some part in carrying the windows we collected to our van.
  • I sent all the text messages letting people know that we’d be with them in half an hour – a very important task this, as they’ve usually been given a wider time slot, and occasionally we’ve been delayed due to traffic.
  • I researched alternative accommodation when our planned hotel fell through (a broken boiler!) Richard spends a huge amount of time planning all the logistics in advance of a trip. My usual research is using the likes of Bloomberg, and academic journal databases, but I can switch to hotels.com on request!
  • I offered my opinion on whether we (and it does feel like we) should buy certain pieces, sometimes during a ‘board meeting’ over dinner! Though as a business librarian, I must make clear this is a joke – there is no board of directors as the business is a small concern that doesn’t require them…
  • I guarded purchased stock (with book in hand), from the wind and from interested passers by, while Richard rearranged glass in the van. Working out where to safely put all the treasure acquired – which will gradually be added to the website in the coming weeks and months – was a regular issue throughout the trip.
  • I got to visit some interesting businesses, and unique and beautiful houses. I regularly get to see what some of Richard’s customers do with the glass they purchase from him, in the images he posts on his Customer reuse ideas page, but have only now had the opportunity to be shown round a customer’s home – one of the aspects of these trips that I always enjoy hearing about. [Note – I distracted myself for a good ten minutes looking again through the reuse ideas page, when I had intended to just get the URL to provide a link!]
A woman (Alice), wearing a blue top and pink skirt, carrying a stained glass window towards the front door of a house

Delivery in Birmingham

A woman (Alice), smiling, standing wearing glasses, blue dress, red tights and a stripy jumper, holding a Kindle. Standing by several stained glass windows, leant against a temporary railing, with blue plastic sheet behind

Guarding treasure in Grantham which will eventually appear in the Victorian category.

What I’ve learnt from the trip

  • Travelling around the country in a van is very tiring, both for the driver (Richard) and for the person along for the ride (me). We did manage a bit of exploring in the cities and towns we stayed in (and even had a night staying and socialising with family – we brought a stained glass suncatcher as a gift, as well as a bottle of wine!), but on several evenings were too tired for tourism beyond a meal.
  • Where we did venture out to our surroundings, we spotted glass in all sorts of places – in a fascinating grade 2 listed pub in Liverpool, and in the Adelphi hotel in the same city. Our history and research interests led to us reading up about the background of this hotel. My librarian tendency to read critically and look at multiple sources meant that I got the more positive perspective from the hotel’s website, and some more shocking details from Wikipedia (I won’t go off on more of a tangent by listing my further research on this topic!)
  • There are many skilled people who work with stained glass. Seeing some locations where the ‘magic’ happens was fascinating.
  • There’s only so much you can fit in a medium-sized van. And quite a bit of this will need to be stored in near vicinity to me, until it can be photographed and eventually sold. As Richard has been unpacking the van and putting glass in temporary locations before photography and proper storage, I’ve enjoyed surprises seeing them displayed around the house. But I must not get too attached!
A man and a woman (Richard and Alice) standing smiling in a pub, with wooden background including a partially glass door and floral stained glass windows

The Vines (The Big House, Lime Street, Liverpool – Grade 2 listed

A big grand room with a glass ceiling, arches in the walls, tables and chairs and a patterned carpet. A woman (Alice) sitting on a sofa, looking up at the ceiling

The Grand Lounge of the Adelphi hotel, Liverpool – the ceiling consists of Victorian rolled glass panes!

A man (Richard), looking away from the camera, standing at the back of a van, with doors open, holding a stained glass window. The van contains other windows, and polystyrene
A messy desk, in front of a bay window, stained glass window on the windowsill, secondary glazing and wooden frames behind

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Stained glass windows piled on top of an old duvet on a wooden floor. Dining table and chairs to the side. Polystyrene behind. Clothes horses outside in the background, through bi-folding doors.

We have stacks of small framed windows (toplights) waiting to be listed in the trade category.

Most people prioritise putting washing in the machine when they get back from a holiday…

The inside of a garage. Stained glass windows leaning against a washing machine, with an old duvet on top of it

This scenic pattern is from a set of doubleglazed units which will soon be listed in the scenic category.

Merging a glass trip with a holiday

While this was a business trip for Richard, it was definitely also a holiday for us both. It may not surprise you to learn that my husband finds it hard to stop working at times, and it is the same for me. Turning off from work is very hard when you’re running your own business from home, and it’s almost as challenging as a subject librarian who’s the library liaison for thousands of people (to say nothing of my current research obsession!). Therefore days off work when at home are never fully days off – work is always on your mind. For me, being on this trip, getting more involved in sourcing salvaged window glass, I was able to properly take a break from my usual preoccupations. Though I admit that I have referred to my job multiple times in this post!

When not eating or socialising, as described above, I got lots of opportunity to read (I collect books at the rate Richard collects windows, though am less keen to let go of them than Richard is willing to part from the glass – necessary when running a business!). For a librarian, I’m not very strong at ‘weeding’ (aka withdrawing books from) my collection, and have many shelves of books waiting to be read.

We listened, while driving, to multiple podcasts. So the time on the road didn’t feel wasted, and was enjoyable. While our listening was more of the comedy and true crime variety, I’ll take this moment to highlight the time Richard was on a podcast, True Tales from Old Houses, talking about his glass business…

We even played a game, despite being away without our children! Proper evidence that my husband did take me on a holiday, not just a business trip!

A low table, with a game on it. Rummikub stands and tiles. A glass if white wine, an open packet of peanuts. A woman's knees and arm in the background.

Alice Cann is an academic librarian, who blogs at researcherlibrarian.wordpress.com. She is also Richard’s wife.