Monday
Over three hours with Barry Hines's brother Richard this afternoon and his lovely wife Jackie. Their son John was also there - up from Brighton where he lives. As usual, the conversation flowed like water in a mountain stream - tumbling over the rocks and down to the valley. I had lent Richard my copy of "Walking Home" by Simon Armitage and I am pleased to say that he has very much been enjoying it. So much so that he wanted to keep the book and asked me to sign it. I said it would be an 81st birthday present. More and more, I discover that there were other parts of Richard in the iconic novel "Kes". Not just the boy who trained a kestrel. There were bits of the book that were lifted directly from Richard's experience of education in a secondary modern school. Barry himself went to a grammar school after passing his eleven plus examination. Because I needed to pee - and I have never been upstairs to the Hines's bathroom - I made my apologies and depa...