22
Mr Tony Mannocchi
Outward appearance
Worn, sallow, a bit beaky with deeply sunken eyes and thin lips held in a permanent smile. Thick blue coat still zipped up, maroon sweater showing under cuffs. Bald, hair combed across. He plays with a heavy set of keys.Inside information
Proprietor of Roma Fine Wines near Waterloo. It has recently gone bankrupt. His son and his new wife were to inherit the business in a few months' time.What he is doing or thinking
He is meditating on how everything is replaced, most especially people. There was a time when he would make this same journey and know half the faces -- customers, vendors from the market on Lower Marsh or the train station, or just people on the train. He can close his eyes and see 1964. The Brylcreemed hair, the haze of tobacco, a certain kind of hatchet English face that has gone. The jokes, people used to joke all the time in London, it was what kept you going. Replacement people, a bit like pets. One dies, another is comes in.They've torn the heart out of this area. The GLC used to be full of customers, now it was vast and empty, soon to be Japanese. That big office block next to Lambeth North, it was full of very well spoken people who always bought wine. Even the OPP , that was much smaller now, and not what it was. Dark, dark, we all go into the dark.
My son says "What am I going to do?" I'm going to tell him. Get yourself a gimmick. And replace someone.
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