The Great New Amsterdam Library Book Sale

Yesterday I learned a lot about New Yorkers...and being one.

I arrived five minutes after the start of the library sale and I was already peering through at the books from the outside of three layers of desperate buyers.

There were the space hoggers, who were so afraid that anyone might take a book from the case they were browsing through that they stood so close that they could only see one shelf comfortably and pulled off painful-looking contortions to try and see all the titles while still blocking everyone else's view.

There were Those Who Came Prepared - standing close to the shelves and throwing book after book after book into a cardboard box at their feet.

There were grabbers with armfuls of books and expansive, blocking body language, scathing looks and enormous glasses. There were casual observers who were being competitively stamped on by the hardcore of library regulars, some of whom I recognised.

Somebody in there really really stank, and I have no idea who it was.