When Robert Returned from Goa
He brought me a phial of opaque sand
Sandra received a toy bear dressed as a sailor hailing from Cornwall
He gave his mother a small mug which showed an early photograph of Whitehaven harbour
Robert later explained that his travel company had filed for bankruptcy before their holiday and that he and Roberta had hidden in their Earls Court flat as they did not want their friends to share their disappointment
They had asked their neighbour to travel to the Camden Market to purchase their holiday gifts
Everything Glows
He quite often decorated teapots as Mother Oats entertained her latest lover
She liked Oriental girls and would go out on certain nights to meet them and bring them back to their flat in the 8th Arrondissement
By day she worked on one of the perfume counters at the Galeries Lafayette
He grew used to the many interruptions caused by Mother Oats and her Oriental lovers
On occasions He joined in the fun that always took place on the mattress which was next to the telephone in the corner of the room
But more than often He remained at his table by the window overlooking the street and decorated his beloved teapots
When they were alone both He and Mother Oates would lay naked on their mattress and wait for a rat named Harrison Wyld to enter the room
The rat would climb on to the stool which was next to crate that served as a footstall in the middle of the room and speak about executioners in Tudor times
Here is an excerpt
The English executioners failed to learn one important lesson from the Spanish Inquisition
In Spain victims were usually gagged by the agony pear which was gently thrust in to their mouths
(Executioners to the man were known for their gentleness)
One has only to think of Ann Boleyn’s executioner who gave her a bunch of red roses prior to her execution in 1536
Ann gave them to her dearest friend instructing her that the beautiful flowers be pressed for posterity when they died
She alas (she noted) would not be up for this simple task as was to die within the hour
The use of the agony pear was to prevent the condemned from making unpleasant noises which might upset the more sensitive spectators but many knew the real reason to be the prevention of remarks such of those from Latimer which caused further damage at the time and have echoed loudlly ever since
Sheriff Lee
The Sheriff who was to oversee the burning of the unfortunate Dr Rowland Taylor in his own parish of Hadleigh was a case in point
He was a man of liberal tendencies in a very dark age and engaged in conversation with Dr Taylor on the eve of his execution
He also gave the condemned an agony pear and suggested that its use was optional
“Why Master Doctor how do you now?”
“Well God be praised, good Master Sheriff never better for now I am near my glorious home and will die praising the full glory of the early primroses”
As they drank together on that last evening the good Doctor stood for a moment and touched the low wooden beam above him
“What a notable sway I would give if I were hanged from this very beam for I am such a big and corpulent man”
This comment touched the kind Sheriff who arranged that the Doctor be hung from beam in question holding a prayer book in one hand and a bunch of primroses in the other
The wood that was to be used for the execution was distributed to the poor of the village as although the primroses were now to be seen the early spring winds had not softened