FutureCat Bookcrossing? Whatever next?

ou might not believe it, but I actually released two books today!  The first was Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes, which I released in a cafe where I stopped off for breakfast on my way to Riccarton this morning (the Riccarton expedition was to replace my computer’s mouse, which has been playing up in annoying ways (mostly involving dying at the most inopportune moments).  After much mucking around with changing batteries and updating drivers and everything else I could think of (and discovering that I *could* get it to work again, sometimes, if I restarted the computer and crossed my fingers and held my mouth the right way, but it would just die again half an hour later) I finally conceded defeat and decided the $50 for a new mouse would be well worth it).
The second was Voices of Protest by Alan Brinkley, which seemed like an appropriately titled book to release at the start of the TPPA protest march.  If you live in one of the 12 participating nations, and you’re not aware of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, then you should be.  Do a bit of Googling, or (for New Zealanders) have a look at this website.  There are all sorts of scary things that might come out of it, but nobody knows for sure, because it’s being signed in secret.  And that’s the scariest thing – our government is signing a secret trade deal that could affect the sovereignty of our country, and we’re not allowed to know the details until it’s too late.  That’s not how democracy is supposed to work.
Sorry, didn’t mean to rant about politics here – I was just meaning to describe the march.  Which was so cool!  There was a massive turnout – the biggest I’ve seen for any issue in years (it felt like the good old days of student protests in the 80s), and it seemed to be a really good cross-section of society, too – people of all ages and backgrounds.  We marched down most of the length of Riccarton Road (which is probably the busiest street in Christchurch on a Saturday) to Hagley Park, the marchers completely filling one lane of the road for several blocks, with much enthusiastic chanting.  A serious issue, but a really fun march 🙂