Which Key?
Monday, 23 February 2026
Which key to choose? Some are tiny but heavy with memory. My favourite is huge and slightly rust-tarnished. Probably original Victorian, fitting an old lock in what was, before we built the extension, an outside door. Holding it again now conjures a bigger, even older door in a bigger older house, one now festooned with cobwebs and ancient presences.
A woman sits by an open fire in a comfy chair so substantial it dwarfs her. She is reading, and making notes in a leather book, taking care with her tiny neat hand-writing. Referring back to the book and back again to her notes.
I stand in the doorway, for I have entered and she hasn’t noticed. I watch, feeling like an intruder but she is still so absorbed, she is unaware. In another place. I envy her stillness, her total absorption. I feel I should leave without announcing myself.
But then she turns.
‘How long are you just going to stand there, darling? Put the kettle on and I’ll tell you about what is so terribly wrong with this Jeffrey Archer novel!’
Posted:
23/02/2026 15:54:45 by
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