Abdullah called me, to thank me for the tickets, as I was biking it across the bridge to the embankment. "I should go out more often" he said and then spoke enthusiastically about Orhan Pamuk at The QEH and the way he spoke both in Turkish and English. Abdullah felt included in the south bank. There's quite an artistic community in Clapton where I live - he saw many of his customers in the audience, who were suprised to see him from beyond the counter. Whereas this Turkish shopkeeper serves other people for his entire life, yesterday the south bank served him - art's for all. From the immigrant shop keeper to the casino worker. I must thank Martin Colthorpe, the Head of Literature. The ticket was waiting under Abdullah's name.   more »