Cathedral Empire

To my right, a window; tall red brick wall of the swimming pool. Shouts from the alley. Bird sounds, and sparse green bush leaves in the breeze. Em in a kitchen peeling potatoes (I did offer to help...) Winnie the dog comes to say hello, click-clacking paws across the wooden floor.

A loop round the Severn, with Em, Joe and Joe, the latter half hungover. As Joe W says; 'I always drink too much on the first night'. He arrived yesterday too. Walking Eva, Joe B's dog through Diglis Park. A wondering at the fact I had never noticed this park before. A landlocked empire, still expanding inside itself.

Earlier; at the indoor market that no-one knows the name of -Market Hall?- flicking through the compact discs at the record stall, reissues of obscure hardcore punk bands from the 1980s, never heard of any of them. I buy a 1990 GBH release from one of Worcester's numerous charity shops for £1.00 instead. In the unnamed market, there is a new stall, not here last time 'Retinal Comics'. It is closed. I peer in through the windows, trying to see horror comics in the gloom.

There are no seagulls in the morning here. I woke up to the chorus of builder-song instead, a loud and raucous rendition of 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World'. I lay in bed and listened to the nostalgia-birds beyond them, and imagined the cathedral bells, somewhere in the distance.