Portobello Market, October 14th 2017

On Portobello Market a teenage couple walk in front of me. They play and poke at and tease each other. 
An older teen approaches with a rolling swagger. His head turns and a smile breaks as he passes the girl. The boy’s head whips around in warning, the girl quick to this situation pulls him to her and kisses in distraction. They walk on.

They pass an old man who is stopped still on the market, lost in a long moment.

The man is carefully precise in his grey suit. He and has watery eyes. He would be played Alec Guinness. His arm hangs heavy with a carrier bag of weekend papers. He looks as the young couple disappear into a cafe. He sees them but is thinking of something else.

Later as I listen to a busker, a chicken trader calls out - ‘Oi! You won’t see me next week. I’m going away!’
He is calling to the old man who has appeared beside me. 
In a soft German voice the man replies ‘No, you won’t see me. I am going away too.’
‘Alright so we won’t see each other!’
The old man nods, satisfied, and walks on.

His eyes pass over each stall on the slow hill of the market. Everything as it should be.