37A

I worked in this building, a while ago, helping to put together an enormous biographical dictionary. In the summer, you could feel the air thicken as you walked upstairs, where the editors would sift through life after life. When it rained, the basement, which housed thousands and thousands of files on those same lives, would flood. I remember, after one summer storm, laying sodden volumes to dry on the patio round the back, as the sun blazed down. The building has held various guises over the years, its first was as a town house, and it was once an Indian restaurant; currently it is owned by Oxford University. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it was actually a magical place.

I work elsewhere now, slightly further up the road. This was where I ate my lunch today.