"Let me tell you about this house", said Irene. "It's 210 years old".
The large front room of her flat used to be the reception area and the room that I was staying in would've been the library. Actors used to stay here when she had an advertisement in 'Spotlight'. Her husband had once thought he would become an actor and got the part of playing a corpse. Unfortunately, he fell asleep in his dressing room, waking up just in time to dash down onto the stage. The corpse lay there panting and that was the end of a glittering career in showbusiness!
The house is on
Dorset Square, where there is a plaque to commemorate the founding of the original Lord's Cricket Club. "It used to be a field", said Irene.
There's a photo of the Square as it used to be, on top of the bookcase. A black and white photograph in a black frame. Irene had got it from the Library. She joked that people looking at the photograph would say 'Oh, is that you in the window, Mrs A?'
As I took this picture, standing with my back to the window, I didn't realise that the same, now more mature trees, of the Square, were reflected in the framed glass.
I remarked that I liked the bookcase. "It comes apart she said." The top sections were individually glass-fronted, you raised the glass like a letterbox, to access the books. "It's Edwardian", said Irene, "I got it from a friend, who was moving to California. I asked him what he wanted for it and he said 'Fish and chips', so I gave him some fish and chips."
On the subject of books, the lady who wrote '101 Dalmations' used to live on the Square. Irene remembered her having a party every year.
The clocks went back whilst I was staying at the house, but I didn't awake to Hansom Cabs outside. Nor did I hear the sound of leather on willow or see any Dalmatians, but, for all you fashionistas out there, I did see a man wearing a cricket jumper tucked into red trousers.
Edit: this is a guest post by Mr B. He was working in London and Dorset Square was where he was staying.
.jpg)
.jpg)
