Unpacking unearthed a rare treasure: my pocket Oxford Dictionary which I bought in London in 1981, otherwise known as junior year abroad. I purchased it at Foyles, the venerable London book store, more like a church to me. The dictionary had been lost for at least a decade, so long that I had forgotten about it. But the moment I held it in my hand, the size and heft of a small prayer book, that lost and lonely year returned to me.
Mostly I remember my single room adorned with one single poster, Diane Arbus’ twins. How every night, I’d stretch out with my Hardy, Dickens, or Larkin and finish off a cheap bottle of red wine and a sleeve of peanuts from the corner grocery. Every night the shop owner seemed genuinely pleased to see me; while I acted as if I had never been there before and would certainly never return. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have this little dictionary back. You can hold it open in one hand and snap it shut like a purse. A phone number is scrawled in the end papers, 212-874-8954. Anyone?
Filed under: The End of the World as We Know It |
Betsy Lerner 
That was lovely. It reminded me of my own recovered treasures. Amazing how we often become archeologists of our own lives, and how some pieces of our history can be as impenetrable as hieroglyphs.
I was in London in ’82, lonely and lost as well.
Yes, that’s my number! But it’s been since disconnected, so just feel free to email me.
Hieroglyphs aren’t impenetrable — they are easily read by even 9-year old Egyptologists. If you’re looking for impenetrable, go with runes. Or Basque etymology. Or why Gen X finds Leonardo DiCaprio sexy.
I WISH I were in London in ’81! I could have seen The Jam in concert!!
But what I want to know, Betsy, is did you get an English accent during the Jr. Yr Abrd and does it ever come in handy these days?
Vivian, dearest, of course I acquired a British accent only I never used it because I am not Madonna.
However, I did see the Talking Heads at Hammersmith and five consecutive Grateful Dead shows, which helped bring my overall show attendance to 27, a fact I was insanely proud of at the time but now seems…insane. Well, to quote Jerry and my high school yearbook, “You can’t go back and you can’t stand still. If the thunder don’t get you then the lightening will.”
I love Foyles, and I love London–it’s my home town, although I don’t live there any more.
I’m very tempted to ring that number, but it doesn’t look like a UK one to me: the format’s not right, and our codes all changed a few years back. Still, I might just try it. And oh, you were lucky to be in London in the 1980s: it was the very best decade, and a wonderful, exciting time.