I still don't know whether to consider myself lucky or unlucky that I only met Kevin Duffy about a month ago. Not that I hadn't been warned! Tony Freeney of fishing tackle fame and our next door neighbour had the civility and presence of mind to pave the way somewhat when he told me he wished to introduce me to someone rather out of the ordinary that afternoon, an angler who had written a book. This is grist to my mill and I said of course, I'd love to meet him.

At roughly 3pm that afternoon, I was shaking hands with a sprightly gentleman who informed me he was 50 years behind the counter. We told him he was only a gossoon and that our mother was more than 60 years behind the counter but that didn't stop our Kevin one bit, except to draw half a breath before launching into a description of his newly published book called (surprise, surprise) Fifty Years Behind the Counter. Before I knew where I was or who I was not only had we the privilege of launching the book but it was to be the singular best-selling volume since the Bible. I had met Kevin Duffy, businessman, salesman supreme and now author. For us, the book launch was a delight. We had nothing to do. Kevin organised the invitations, guaranteed sponsorship and managed to appear on every newspaper and radio programme this side of the Shannon.

If the launch was a delight, the book itself is a gem. With extraordinary confidence the author takes us from the first day he ever worked behind a counter to his present day status as a merchant of some status. Poetic license is thrown out the window and a pound is a pound as far as the author is concerned, no more, no less. There aren't any frills on this one and soon you realised you had to be up early (and moving) to catch Kevin Duffy.

The book is the very stuff that history is made of. We watch generation succeed generation and the changing commercial values are described in the most basic mercantile language - pounds, shillings and pence. We see the opportunities electrification offered to the enterprising hungry businessman side by side with the good old barter system.

Strangely, decimalisation hardly ripples the surface of the narrative, while the storm Debbie most certainly made her presence felt. It is the author's boast that "before five o'clock the following day, every house in Headford was reglazed".

It is the sort of book that every reader has a favourite moment in, a favourite sentence. Mine occurs during the passage where Kevin describes the expansion of his business throughout the west - "and we have now expanded the outboard business to the whole western seaboard - from Clarenbridge to Carna, Lettermore, Clifden, Inishbofin, Renvyle, Westport, Newport, Achill, Belmullet and Blacksod". The real value of this book is that people like Kevin Duffy are fast disappearing. The world he describes is already gone. This book is a witness to a time when money was money and a purchase was not made unless necessary. Every penny was fought for and hard earned. But people were people and no matter how hard the times, there was always time for humour and humanity.

However, having met Kevin Duffy, seen the glint in his eye, the bounce in his step, one cannot help but feel that, like all anglers, he is not telling the full story.