Apart from on the Islington Council's website I have never heard anybody refer to this as "South library". Being in Islington, an obvious north London postcode, there's nothing particularly southern about it apart from the fact of it being in London. As far as I'm concerned my local library is the Essex Road library forever to be immortalized, in John Lahr's biography of Joe Orton, 'Prick Up Your ears'. Today I cycle pass 25 Noel Road where Orton and his lover, Keith Haliwell, lived and tragically died. It is in here where I picture them re-imagining the covers of the same library books that in May 1962 they were found guilty of stealing and defacing before the pair were sentenced to six months in prison.
A few years ago there was an exhibition in the library's foyer documenting this case. It is ironic that whilst extra staff were originally brought in to investigate the guilty culprits, the history of the case is now something that the library, and in turn the council, isn't ashamed to trade on.
When I was a child minder I sometimes came to a play morning that was held in the hall above the library. Admittance was maybe a pound and this included complimentary toast (with choice of Marmite or jam) and tea for the adults (and juice for the kids). The adults would sit around the perimeter of the room only getting up if they needed to intervene between their children. As I was often the only man here, the mums would usually show me a respectful but, all the same, wide birth to avoid any possible confusion but what this meant was that I was able to have time to read the newspaper.
Fifteen years ago I found walking along the Essex Road after dark any further than the library a daunting experience. Basically, I always thought I was going to get mugged. Two years ago I saw a young man with no arms smoking crack (his mate was holding the pipe for him) outside the George Orwell Pub. Recently it seems the Essex Road has become quite the place. Whilst the Mecca Bingo hall has now closed (I walked passed one Sunday morning to find a crusty/cyber rave taking place in here), Steve Hatts, one of London's oldest fishmongers, is still here. As is James Elliot "Master Butcher" and Get Stuffed the taxidermist, although visitors are now only admitted by appointment. Once I witnessed the moving of the huge Polar Bear that I always remembered being in the window. My impression was of seeing this stuffed bear, maybe ten feet or twelve tall, it's terrifying paws outstretched as if in mid fight, wrapped in cellophane being hoisted by five men into the back of the waiting removal van. But then where? I took a photo of the scene using my phone, like you do, but then I lost the phone.
No more than the new branch of Planet Organic, is the future of this street and latterly London reflected in one shop. It's a overpriced and a bit rubbish but I will always feel safe walking passed it.
On Thursday morning a couple of the librarians host a cheery parent and toddler reading group in the children's library, which is housed next door to the main library. There is another room that is used as a reading room but due to thefts it is empty apart from a couple of desks and a photocopier. If you want to read the newspaper you have to ask at the main counter before retreating in here to read it. It's been said that the library's lack of choice inspired Orton and Haliwell to do what they did but the selection of books today is still better than many other public libraries I've visited.
Whilst checking out a book by Colin McInnis, the author of Absolute Beginners, the librarian (not one of those who host the children's reading group) asked me if I knew that the author of the book paid for sex? Pardon? I replied thinking that I had misheard him. "He paid for sex," he hissed under his breath, two delicate threads of spittle forming in the corners of his mouth, "with coloured men." The thing is I already knew this but I behaved as if it was still news to me. That in fact I didn't know what he was talking about. "Really?" I replied before hastily wishing him a good day. Once a library member of the area you can return your books to any of Islington's ten libraries, which is what I did when it was time to return them next time.
None of the actual defaced Joe Orton/Keith Haliwell books are to be found in the Essex Road library. Nor were they in the exhibition a few years before. This is because the Islington History Centre, a short cycle ride away, on St Johns Street, possesses the collection. It is a fine museum if you're interested in the area's history and in here, under lock and key in a glass case, are some of those same vandalized books.
In the Finsbury Library, which is next door to the same museum, there is a display of punk rock CD's celebrating the Hope and Anchor's reputation as a live venue over the years. I notice a Germs CD amongst the various compilations included. I'm sure the Germs have never played in Islington or London but that doesn't stop me from preferring them to many of the bands who have.
No comments:
Post a Comment