Jay plays Autumn Leaves in The Crooked Book ...

This morning we drove to Boscombe, so that we could spend an hour or two in The Crooked Book - 

Vicky had recommended a visit - she knew, I think, one of the owners - I had gone there once, after the elfin Sharon Halderthay had put down her sinister instruments - 

We parked the shiny Golf in an avenue lined with mature trees - driveways led to large detached houses with silky lawns - 

By contrast, Christchurch Road was a louche exciting drag of electronic cigarette shops, Costcutters, nail bars, Primarks, Tesco Expresses and Wetherspoons pubs - 

I felt, all around me, the turbulent currents of precarious lives - 

Inside The Crooked Book, we ate banana cake and shortbread biscuits - 

Jay bought three novels by Nancy Mitford  - he considered buying a trilby - 

Anne discovered a small rocking horse - I gazed at the mad covers of foxed Sci Fi paperbacks - a glass case contained a stuffed bird with a wicked curving beak - 

Then Jay played Autumn Leaves upon an upright piano - 

I heard the beautiful chords whilst I was skim reading a space opera by Brian Aldiss - 

It was as though Jay had cast a spell - I wondered what beautiful spirits the music would summon - 

12.00

12 October 2014

The Crooked Book

Boscombe