World Book Morning has broken

An early start to get to Burton-on-Trent station for around 7.45am on Thursday 3rd March, World Book Day.
Half-asleep train travellers were pleasantly surprised to find an author and two librarians giving books out on the platform at that time of the morning. Well, most of them were. Others thought there must be a catch - nobody gives stuff away these days, do they? One of the workers repairing the bridge took a copy of David Beckham's autobiography, a traveller with a bandana thought it was a great idea, but tussled with his conscience so long that his train came and he left empty-handed. A party heading for a tour of the breweries of Europe took a couple of mild comedies and a bitter satire. 'Do you want the books back?' they asked. No, for once there were no return dates on the inside covers. You could leave the books on the train, take them home or pass them on to someone else to read.
Thanks to Paul Tovell and Joan of Staffs Libraries for looking after me - and to the thoughtful station manager at Burton who thawed us out with hot tea!