[BRIGGS] Now, well, We’re old friends, Jack and myself.
We met on a street corner.
I should warn you
he’ll deny this account.
His story will be different.
So there I was, and I was standing at a street corner.
And this car drew up.
And it was him.
And he asked me the way to Bolsover street.
So I said to him,
But Bolsover street, it's in the middle of an intricate one-way system.
Now, it's a one-way system easy enough to get into.
The only trouble was that, once in, you couldn’t get out.
So I told him
the best thing that he could do,
was to take the first left, and then the first right,
then the second right, and then the third on the left,
and to keep his eye open for a hardware shop,
and then go right round the square, keeping to the inside lane,
and take the second Mews on the right and then stop.
He'll find himself facing a very tall office block,
with a crescent courtyard.
Now he can take advantage of this tower block.
Because he can go round the crescent,
following the arrows, go through two sets of traffic lights
and take the next left indicated by the first green filter he comes across.
He’s got the Post Office Tower in his vision the whole time.
All he’s got to do is to reverse into the underground car park,
change gear, go straight on, and he’ll find himself in Bolsover street:
no trouble at all
I did warn him,
he will still be faced with the problem,
of having found Bolsover street, of losing it.
I told him I knew one or two people
who’d been wandering up and down Bolsover street for years.
Wasted their fucking youth there.
You see, the people of Bolsover street,
their faces are grey,
they’re in a state of despair, but nobody pays any attention, you see.
All people are worried about is their ill-gotten gains.
I wrote to The Times about it.
Life At A Dead End, l called it.
Went for nothing.
Anyway, I told him that probably the best thing he could do
was to forget the whole idea of getting to Bolsover street.
I remember saying to him:
This trip you’ve got in mind, drop it, it could prove fatal.
But he said he had to deliver a parcel.
Anyway, I took all this trouble with him because he had a nice open face.
He looked like a man who would always do good to others himself.
Normally I wouldn’t give a fuck.
I should tell you he’ll deny this account.
His story will be different.