I heard today that Graham, who used to run the pet shop on Backfold, died suddenly the night before last. He was only 53. We used to call him Islay's Uncle Graham, because he gave her pig's ears, her favourite treat, when I was working in Backfold and she mooched up and down the alleyway all day. She would hang around Graham's shop, looking cute, and passers by would go in and buy her treats. When I stopped working in Backfold, Graham came to ask for compensation, for loss of earnings, now that Islay wasn't there to tempt people into his shop!
He gave the shop up to concentrate on his taxi work - and because his father, who manned the shop when he wasn't there, refused to spend another winter there, huddled over a gas fire. It does get freezing cold in winter, being partly underground. Whenever I saw him around town, Islay would greet him like a long lost friend.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment