St Ann’s Square
After leaving Marie’s pub, we got in the car to go back to Manchester. It was late at night and there were very few cars on the English motorways. Although I’d had a fair amount to drink, it wasn’t affecting my senses and I focused carefully on the road; the many words that had been uttered at the pub subsided, to make way for some restorative silence. The radio, tuned in to a rock station, kept me company; in the background, Deep Purple was playing.
The coincidence made me smile. ‘Professor, do you remember this? It’s a song from the disc you gave me in Torquay all those years ago. Who would have thought that after such a long time, you and this song would turn up again simultaneously in my life? Fate is not without a sense of humour, wouldn’t you say, Mr P.? Professor?’
