Theatre

When I moved in, I was disconcerted by all the lives going on in the flats facing my block but I got used to it and soon felt that I knew them all as well as the characters in the play that I was wrestling, page by page, from my reluctant typewriter. The old lady watering plants on her windowsill, the couple in the flat above her who argued and had long, relaxed parties on their balcony, the young guy with the bikes...

One day, on the street, I bumped into the woman with the small dogs. It was odd seeing her in a different context and I had a small moment of readjustment when I realised that she also recognised me and that, though I had thought of myself as the audience, to her, I was part of the cast.