No time to lose.

That’s the feeling you get when walking down the overcrowded Elsensesteenweg. Everybody’s busy buying stuff. Wriggling around, meandering from store to store. An endless swirling stream of shopping.

Better drift away to the calm and charming Tulip Street nearby. An old jazz café. An art gallery. An artisanal lamp shop. A creative atelier. A man in a chair reading a book in what seems to be his living room. Casually decorated with vintage vases. Cozily lit by several old lamps. And many bookcases towering along the walls. You’d think this man forgot to close his front window curtains. If it wasn’t for the fact that you can buy almost all of his living room assets.

Peter opened up this second-hand bookshop in 2015. Fulfilling his lifelong dream. Peter’s a real English language enthusiast. That’s why you’ll mostly find English fiction here. Selected according to his personal taste. What else next to fiction? Loads of history and politics. But also modern art. And photography. And Brussels.

Peter and I have some friends in common. Last time, I ran into Joseph C., Paul A., Philip R., Ian M. and Julian B. in Tulibris. Nothing beats touching their soft backs with my fingertips. Gently yet firmly grabbing my friends from time to time. Leafing through them, caressing their smooth pages. Going from bookcase to bookcase. Only stopping to sip from the coffee Peter offered me. Mounting and descending the ladder, descending and mounting.

All time to lose.