'What's your surname?' I asked him
He raised one eyebrow
'Rose'
'Valentine Rose? Are you kidding?'
'No I'm not kidding. It was my mother's idea of a joke old sport. Actually, I rather like it.”
'It must have been hell at school'
'School? Oh, I didn't go to school. Educated at home you know!'
He twirled his cane
'My mother was very particular. Very, Particular.'
'What's she like then?'
“Oh, she’s a great beauty. The greatest some say.'
He said this entirely seriously and apparently without any conceit
'Married beneath her of course. Her friends never really forgave her. Very proud woman. Very concerned with appearances. Gets quite jealous of the younger generation. Particularly the ones who aren't in her social bracket.'
He looked rather regretful as he said this and took off his round, green glass, shaded spectacles and began to polish them. I noticed that he blinked a little in the light
'Are you short sighted?' I asked
He put the spectacles back on
'Oh, I should say so. Practically blind old sport. Mind you it helps when you do what I do'
'What do you do?' I asked. The space around us suddenly seemed strangely hushed and far away
'Oh, you know, I like to bring people together'
He paused and smiled at me, lit another cigarette then looked speculatively at the gathered people in the club around us
'Or sometimes .....to tear them apart……'
7 comments:
loved that part of your podcast.
Thank you, for the loveliest Valentine I've ever received.
I can't abide Valentine's (mostly because I live in a country that just robbed it from Americans, because God forbid we actually did anything original...), but Stephen, that is some beautiful writing. I feel like printing it, framing it and hanging it on my wall.
I envy people who can create such an atmosphere in their writing.
And thank you again for letting me use your lyrics etc. for the layout. If you're at all interested in what it turned out like, I'll put the link here :)
hi stella
hey - sorry i just checked this out - how very lovely!
although you know
I think that's not actually clerkenwell road?
but thankyou!
s
I'm aware of that, but I hope no one else is ;) Shhh...
Hello Stephen! New fan of yours brought into the fold by your "mistress of documentary." I plan on inundating Chicago with your loveliness. You're linked to my blog...
xo,
one of the ugly.
What a beautiful entry, and indeed what a stunning blog, to come across almost totally by accident.
And the music. And the...everything.
Particularly given that I appear to be alone amongst everyone I know in remaining incapable of becoming cynical about Valentine's day. But there you go.
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