The Lady in the Van Page #8

we've got heaps to talk about.

Goodbye.

Mr Bennett?

Yes.

I came into your drive for three months...

And I stayed for 15 years!

- Mr Bennett?

- Yes?

- Do you know what that is?

- No.

It's the last laugh.

Well, she wanted an ascension.

Let's answer her prayers.

Stand by, Miss Mary Teresa Shepherd,

late of 23 Gloucester Crescent.

UP You go.

Starting out as someone

incidental to my life,

she remained on the edge of it so long,

she became not incidental to it at all.

As home bound sons and daughters

looking after their parents

think of it as just marking time

before their lives start,

so, like them, I learned there is

no such thing as marking time

and that time marks you.

In accommodating her

and accommodating to her,

I find 20 years of my life has gone.

This broken-down old woman, her delusions,

and the slow abridgment of her life,

with all its vehicular permutations,

these have been given to me to record

as others record journeys

across Afghanistan or Patagonia

or the thighs of a dozen women.

You wanted me to make things happen.

And I never have much,

but it doesn't matter.

Because what I've learnt,

and maybe she taught me, is that

you don't put yourself into what you write.

You find yourself there.

I never wanted to write about her.

If there'd been a bit more in your life,

I wouldn't have had to.

Maybe I will now.

What?

Have a bit more in my life.

I might even start living.

Good day?

Not bad. You?

Oh. These came.

Hmm. Very good.

- Coming down?

- All right.

That's the end of the story.

It might make a play.

What do you think?

Now I'm here, I think you should

stop talking to yourself.

Hi.

Hi, Alan.

Okay, nice and quiet,

please. Here we go. And let's turn over.

- B.

- Mark it.

Okay, take 14.

And, action!

Gloucester Crescent

has had many notable residents,

but none odder or more remarkable

than Miss Mary Shepherd,

to whom we dedicate this blue plaque today.

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