Halley

Sonnet's Smith friend Halley visits from Exeter. We spent our first night in London on Halley's living room floor in East Dulwich in 1997. The evening was notable as Diana died in Paris. Clueless to the tragedy I awoke, bleary-eyed, to a full-throttle outpouring of emotion for the gone Princess: flowers, grievance books, tears ! that did not let up for many months. Diana's death allowed the nation to morn and briefly shed its inhibitions. It has taken ten years to reconcile these memories against the British I have come to know - and appreciate - today.