It's Showtime.

We do not close for many Public Holidays here at Orkney Archive. There is May Day, Easter Monday and... Dounby Show Day.

Dounby show day is always the Thursday before the County Show and the library is always closed. This is because the library and archive staff all insist upon attending this event. Tomorrow, we shall all clamber into one of the mobile libraries, cagoules donned, cameras charged and a ten pound note each which our mums put in our wallets.

We always sing this on the journey through:



Once there, we sit patiently by the gates for three hours until they are opened and then the fun begins. Food is munched, orange squash is quaffed, livestock is inspected and penalty shoot outs are participated in.

We are often quite tired and cross by the end of the day and tempers sometimes fray on the way home but our managers usually manage to solve this with a rousing sing song and badges for good behaviour.

So don't come to the library tomorrow, 'cause we won't be there.