Have you ever asked an author to dedicate your copy of one of their books to someone? Or, picked a book from your book shelf that you haven't read for a long time, and opened it to be reminded of who gave it to you, all those years ago? Or seen an inscription written in a familiar handwriting that you haven't read since that person died, years back? All possible with books of course.

Portrait of an Artist.

BRIGGY'S BIKE SHACK

Am I the last person to find out about Briggy's? Never mind - better late than never. You can find him in Lower Marsh Market adjacent to Waterloo station in London, mending and selling his vintage bicycles, which are lovely and splendid and everything a decent and proper bike should be - all beautifully restored by Briggy himself.

Garden Photography, Kennington.

Pack Shot Time

I love the eccentricity of the ill fitting Angostura bitters bottle, the label too tall for the shape, yet persevered with. I think the old bottle here is about 25 years old.

Camp Coffee went all PC not long ago, and tried to rewrite history, having the Indian chap sitting alongside the kilted fellow, rather than standing, as shown here. I don't have a replacement bottle to show you, there's still half left in my old one, despite the best before label, reading 1983.

To really go back, these poppadums were repatriated by my father from India in 1946. I've a few left - they're very tasty still.

Oriental Seagull and Lith Printing

A final clear out of the dark room... unearthing Oriental Seagull paper, all 20 x 16 sheets, most of it grade four and a couple

grade five, in packs that have never been opened. If anyone out there's still printing liths, then please get in touch. It should go to a good home, over a hundred sheets of it.

Memories.

Dear Bill,

Like you said, it's funny how memories can be thrust onto you with no warning and from unpredictable directions.

The china was in a junk shop in Hay (doubtless these days, they'd deny the use of the word junk...) and the paper was wrapped around a photo frame that had been in the loft since 1988, the year she died - yet there was the cup and saucer they used to drink their tea from, and a crossword, her handwriting as fresh as it had been, all those years ago.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

HITCH