Downstream

I produce my passport
and driving licence (getting
into the archives is no easy
matter) and the archivist,
Penny Hatfield, lets me into a
compact, book-lined room. I
am the only person there but
for an elderly man who
appears to be studying cloth
scrolls.
I sit down at the wooden
table, carefully pulling my
chair across the parquet floor.
Tall windows let in the