Window on the World by Hugh Cornwell

Author:Hugh Cornwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448207206
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

On February 3rd, 1997, Bohumil Hrabal, popular author of ‘I Served the King of England’ and ‘Closely Observed Trains’fell from the fifth floor window of his hospital and died in his pyjamas aged eighty-two. Two of his books describe people choosing to fall out of fifth floor windows.

The next day was spent nursing a terrible hangover and pieces of the evening began coming back to me in a disjointed fashion. I distinctly remembered Miles ordering several rounds of Armagnac after dinner, and I vaguely recalled Lemoncello being passed round the table before leaving. In light of this, it was surprising I’d made it all the way home, got myself undressed and into bed successfully. I drank several glasses of water and seeing as it was a bright day, I headed out to get some fresh air. It wasn’t until I sat down at the Round Pond that I looked at my watch and saw it was only eleven o’clock in the morning. Then my mobile beeped with a message from Miles:

GREAT NIGHT! YOU WERE

ON GOOD FORM, LUIS

REALLY LIKED YOU …

JANUSAK FEATURE

CONFIRMED FOR BBC2 …

GOD WHAT A HANGOVER

FROM HELL MXX

I was glad he hadn’t called me as I wasn’t in a fit state to talk to anyone. The news about the TV exposure for Katherine was a coup and I felt better in the knowledge that my collection was bound to go up in value as a result. Reyes began to drift back into my mind along with some of what had been going through my head in the taxi on the way home. His sudden appearance had presented me with a problem, since he’d said he was looking to increase his stock of Katherine’s work which would put him in direct competition with me. This could force the prices up, something I didn’t want to happen while I was still buying. But we’d got on extremely well, so well in fact, that he’d invited me to visit him at his home in Baton Rouge. Over breakfast I thought I might take him up on his offer at some point and I could feel my spirits lifting again.

My neighbour got back in touch and was pleased about my desire to buy his flat from him. I sensed I could negotiate a very good price as he said he’d found somewhere else and wanted to be out by the end of September.

I realised it was Friday which meant the incomplete chapter about yuccas that was still on my desk could remain there until the following week, and I could while away the day recovering, doing some chores, and thinking about what to do over the weekend. The forecast was good so I got an early night, and took a train down to visit a friend in Wivenhoe in Essex where I was able to take a break from Nicola, Jessica, Katherine and all of the paintings.

I spent the beautiful weather lounging on my friend’s veranda, looking at the boats coming and

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