Under the Sun

Author:Bruce Chatwin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2011-01-20T16:00:00+00:00

To Francis Steegmuller535

L6 Albany (top) | Piccadilly | London | 21 March 1980

Dear Francis,

You can certainly borrow, not rent the above, but I feel I must warn you of the drawbacks. It is not a flat, in the English sense of the term, but a one-room garçonnière such as one might find in the Cinquième. My tastes are also rather Spartan. It has a kind of kitchen, a minuscule shower and basin, but the lavatory is out on the landing. It has a painted Directoire bed, 3ft 6in wide – and definitely for Francis: sharing with anyone not recommended. It has a smaller, also Directoire, steel lit-de-camp, which can be made into a bed, though it serves as a sofa. In this Shirley would have to sleep. I have, on occasions, and found it small but possible.

Otherwise, there are a Jacob chair, a Régence chair, a table, a telephone, the King of Hawaii’s bedsheet with a design of fishes (framed), a Sienese cross, and a Mughal miniature.

You will feel very cramped. I discourage visitors, but if you’re prepared to put up with it, it can be yours from the 5th to the 11th.

I cannot rent it to you, because I pay no rent myself, and only have it on a friendly basis. You would have to pay my cleaning lady, Mrs Robinson, who comes on Mondays and Thursdays. You would also obviously monitor all phone calls and pay those. If you then wanted to give me a present – a bottle or two of champagne never refused – that would be up to you . . .

If I am up that week, I can easily find a billet and it will only be for a night. I have started writing about my Welsh peasants, if that’s the right word for them, and don’t need interruptions.

As always,

love to Shirley, Bruce

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