Afternoon Reading

Sounds of laughter, snippets of conversation and footsteps from Commercial Street filter into the reading room. As I sit down, I hear a jet engine from a plane on the flight path towards Leeds Bradford Airport. Settling down with my notebook and pen I hear the ticking of the wall, with large black Roman numerals which is mounted above the door leading to the passageway into main room.  I spot an old black, grey and white flecked marble fireplace on the wall. The bottom of the fireplace is concealed by stacked shelves and packing boxes. Above the mantelpiece are several copies of Yorkshire Tracts Miscellaneous. One of the spines of the tracts has gold-lettering, a label of sorts telling the reader it includes Thoresby Society Registers (1540-1812). As I gaze around the room, I spot a huge leather-bound book which is an Ordnance Survey Map of the Borough of Leeds, it is several inches thick and I imagine how heavy it would be to move it.  Another member of the library joins me, tapping a keyboard on a silver-coloured laptop, the only digital device visible in the room.