Bookshop doing well

 I'm knackered.  The bookshop is doing really well at present.  

We're still getting used to the novelty of sometimes being in the top 50% of Weldmar shop sales, rather than close to the bottom. (We're one of their smaller shops, so we're never going to beat the large ones on overall takings)

It's summer in Dorchester, and Dorchester is a tourist town, and people on holiday like to read books. All kinds of books.  Paperback fiction is turning over well, but so are higher value books.  A £50 book on the history of Spitfire's sold on Monday (Incredibly detailed - exhaustive specs of every Spitfire ever build).

We've also managed to increase our sales of CDs and DVDs.  Richard's mum, Molly, donated us an old counter-top display unit which was probably used for selling sweets.  It's really good for displaying CDs and DVDs when on a table outside.  People stop and flip through them.  We're selling far more pop music as a result.  Our normal demographic is much more into Classical music.

The catch is that when you sell a hundred or so items in a day, you're forever running up and down stairs to restock...

Add in the effort to price everything, and the work needed to turn over the unsold stock and replace it with new, and you're working pretty hard.  Up and down stairs, carrying heavy books...

We've just lost our Wednesday volunteer - in a good way - he found a job.

So, we're really hoping someone turns up, either to help on the till or to help with the restocking.  If you've got  any friends in Dorchester, just point them in our direction!

Victorian forms of address

 I'm working on the script for a musical set in Victorian London.  (My brother in law is writing the music and another person is doing the lyrics)

My immediate problem is forms of address.  History books don't tend to cover this.

Does anyone know how a lower-class boy would address his mother? "Mum" feels too modern to my ear.

Also, forms of address between adults vary by age and social standing.

I assume that Henry Mayhew and Richard Beard would address one another as "Mayhew" and "Beard".  Correct?

How about Mayhew talking to a female street seller?  I'm guessing that he would use her Christian name: "Hannah", but she would probably address him as "Mr Mayhew"?

Also, how would he introduce himself to her in the first place?  Would he even mention his first name? Or would he just say, "My name is Mayhew, and I'd like to interview you for an article I'm writing for the 'Morning Chronicle'."

Henry Mayhew was a real person, and a contemporary of Dickens, who did much to publicise the appalling living and working conditions of the London poor.