In 4,000 years time, when the history teacher turns the page and announces Colchester to the schoolchildren, what stories will they tell?

Will they tell of the heroics of a woman called Boadicea?

Perhaps they will draw the pupils attention to the great Roman wall or the remains of the awe-inspiring temple of Claudius?

Maybe they shall tell the tale of how the great brick building known as Jumbo came to be built?

Maybe even that 4,000 year old story of Jumbo’s origins will contribute to the discussion they will no doubt still be having about what to do with it.

I feel sure that all these stories will feature. But they will be but footnotes when placed against the true colossus which sits in our very midst today.

A glorious entity. She sits majestically bestriding our High Street.

Erudite, elegant, ennobled, emblazoned on our very souls.

A sacred deity, at once both physical and mystical, a mighty presence, an omniscient and omnipresent force, (with late opening on a Wednesday).

I speak, of course, of the mighty Red Lion bookshop.

It is this of which the grandchildren our grandchildren’s grandchildren shall learn. It is this that will cause them to gape in awe, dumbfounded with the sheer preposterous magnificence of such a thing.

Agra City may boast the Taj Mahal but quite frankly, well, isn’t it a little gawdy next to our very own Red Lion bookshop?

As if this wasn’t enough, as I was cycling by only yesterday I thought I saw, surely not…. A screech of brakes, rucksack lurching over my head…but yes, there in the window, it’s a real live elf! Beavering away making tiny toys.

And so in I went to investigate.

What I found was none other than Colchester legend, Professor Addrian, the very man, in real life, there before my very eyes.

Professor Addrian no less, ringmaster in chief of Colchester very own Flea Circus, balloon scuplturer, Punch and Judy man, a treasure all of his own.

Put this chap inside Red Lion books and the two together is enough for any mere mortal such as I feel a little heady.

In casual conversation with the elf, it seems he will be there until Christmas constructing these beautiful mini characters, which live in his “box of delights” until the day comes when they are called upon to perform in his Christmas show, Jack and The Giant Killer.

The enforced isolation that both lockdowns caused, affected us all in different ways. But for a natural born performer like the good Professor Addrian, the sudden end of all live work became very difficult.

He missed the buzz of performing.

In fact he missed it so much that when he went to get his shopping from the Co-op he would start performing magic tricks to the check-out staff.

People at the tills would be amazed at his trickery, but as soon as others started to notice the fun, he would have to upsticks and go so as not to allow a crowd to gather. We all have our crosses to bear.

Professor Addrian’s is an irrepressible urge to make other people happy and as such enforced lockdown was a trial.

So there he is gentle readers, until Christmas. The crown in the jewel which is the Red Lion bookshop.