Today (Christmas Eve 2009) I met the man that I’ve seen almost everyday (on my way to work) sitting on the same bench by the River Trent.
I had wrote about seeing him further down my blog during August- October 2009, when I was gathering recordings from the River Trent (Nottingham) and River Soar (Leicester).
It’s Christmas Eve, so feeling festive and a tad whimsical I thought it would be a good idea for me to change my usual routine of power walking my way through town and be late for work.
I had to remind myself to grab a mince pie and a cup of coffee, I’m not particularly fond of either but I thought that the man on the bench might be interested.
As usual, I made sure that my recorder and microphones were working and was all set up and ready to go…it does sometimes feel a bit sneaky recording conversations with people when they are unaware of it.
The man has a name and it begins with a ‘D’, he lives in a care home in Nottingham, but used to live and work in London and Manchester in a seal foundation factory and more interestingly as a doorman for Playboy and for a punk rock club in Manchester. He feeds the ducks everyday, chain smokes, drinks Fosters and when it rains he sits in the crown court. His wish (which he shared with me, without any prompting) is to plant a tree in Hyde Park or St James Park in London to leave behind some kind of legacy.