5 September 2003 23:29 [link]
goodbye, leytonstone
I went back to our old flat for the final time this evening - dropping off keys, checking for mail.
The electricity was off, and I gave Albert (our former upstairs neighbour) quite a turn by greeting him in the darkened hallway unexpectedly.
Leaving, I realised that in all probability I will never see it, or even Leytonstone, again. This idea doesn't concern me overmuch (in fact it's quite refreshing). It feels like the closing of another chapter, but a middle chapter - slightly dull, plot elaboration, back story. Of course I got married while we lived there, but that's wholly tied to Oxford. The Leytonstone of my memory is a holding pattern.
So I bade goodbye to Boscombe Avenue. I waved a fond farewell to the Gnome House. [Did I ever tell you about the Gnome House? Quite, quite odd. It's a small place, mostly garage, tacked on to the side of a normal house. And it has gnomes, everywhere. All along the porch roof. Scattered around the potted plants in the front yard. So I always called it the Gnome House. Local landmarks, eh?] I was too late to buy a final snack from the corner shop. I said "adieu" to the ever-erratic W15 and W16 buses, and their drivers who drive psychotically fast on roads that are far too small and who make me glad for the relatively stately progress of Oxford buses. I left Leytonstone station, and headed West. And sort of northish.
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