Preamble : Lower Merton Rise.

Lower Merton Rise.

It was where it all began.

Of course, now, I have only the memory of that first meeting. I peer at the Google Earth representation, and I am surprised. It all seems to be there.

I was living in George Street, Reading...

 I had seen the advert in the Tuesday Guardian sometime at the beginning of 1987. It was tiny, squashed between larger chunks of print and pictures:

              English teacher needed for a Cambridge school in Karachi. Those interested phone :

And then a phone number in London. I rang and it was answered by a woman with a clipped, unidentifiable accent, very succinct and very well-spoken. She guided me to Swiss Cottage by tube from Paddington. She gave a time.

                             "I'll look forward to seeing you then. Be on time.?"

There was a certain uncompromising tone to the voice. The neighbourhood was quiet and classy, birds chirping opera arias. (It should have been jazz.)

The woman who opened the door was small and dressed in her local (Pakistani) loose fitting top and trouser-type wear, with a brown cardigan and a loose scarf draped round her neck.

Mrs. V.

Lower Merton Rise now. It really hasn't changed!