For some reason, I'm trying to sneak into
York Assembly Rooms. The entrance is guarded by a stocky man in a green
uniform, like the ones that stand outside
New York hotels in films.
When the man is distracted,I sneak in. Inside looks like an empty
office complex - grey
carpet tiles, and huge
hessian-weave breakers blocking off the far end of the room. I wave at a few white-overalled
technicians, which seems to satisfy them that I'm here with permission, then slip between two of the breakers.
Swimming pool changing rooms, sprawlingly vast and totally empty. I open a few
lockers and find nothing. Someone has smashed a few of the
wooden benches in here. I run to where the pool should be.
Row Z of
York University Central Hall, the seats right at the centre back. The view forward is blocked off by more hessian-weave breakers, but here with me is a large group of people being taught
The Pirates of Penzance acapello by a dignified woman in a white sweater. Being a
Gilbert & Sullivan fan, I stay to watch, hoping no-one sees me. When the woman tries to teach one of the men one of Frederick's trickier lines, I start singing without realising it, and end up holding a very high note for ages, before realising everyone's staring at me and laughing. One of the
altos is
beautiful.
Cut to
Swift's Hill in
Slad, near
Laurie Lee's house. I'm running down, laughing, with afforementioned alto and a
schnauzer dog. I slip, tumble, then roll down the hill for what seems like minutes. I stand up at the bottom, seemingly unharmed, and open my
backpack to find that all the
lint I had in there has formed a fuzzy
waistcoat, which I put on.
Then the alto runs up to me, and we hug.
I say: "What do you think, we give it a try?"
She says: "I don't know... I'm not sure if we're both freesome."
Somehow, I knew she said 'freesome' rather than 'threesome'. I felt confused, then woke up.
Far too vivid, with too many memories of
York.