A few years ago when my daughter was about
to leave school, I moved into town. I had a plan. Molly was going to go to
college and I was going to travel more and write as I went. I was in my late
30s, divorced and had just moved into a small two-bedroom flat in the city
centre – the kind of flat upon which you can safely slam the door and head off
into the sunset. New York, Paris, Istanbul. It was all ahead of me - a well
laid plan.
Within a couple of months however I
inadvertently met my second husband, my daughter, who had rented a place in
Glasgow, where she went to study came home again and that footloose, fancy free
novelist who was going to go wherever her heart dictated was back in the box.
The box was too small – we later built an extension.
The places I live have always been busy – I
come from the kind of family where we have keys to each other’s houses. One
brother and his family lives a whole 2 minutes away. My other brother’s house
is at least 10 minutes in the other direction. So when QuattroZero opened along
the road I jumped at it. Living in town there are lots of coffee shops but
QuattroZero just got it right for me. It’s a proper, modern Italian café. Great
coffee, nice lunch deal and Italians bickering in the kitchen. The café feels
less busy than my house (or at least, less busy with people I have to chat to).
Also, I am not a huge fan of Italian dessert, which is great for my waistline.
Other cafes offer carrot cake, lemon tart and other irresistible high calorie
temptations but at Quattrozero I rarely succumb to anything but amazing coffee
(glass of water on the side) and the seafood risotto (it was love at first
bite). I’m not a fan of sandwiches at lunchtime.
I work on my laptop – I write more quickly
that way. The staff know I’m busy - they just deposit regular coffees, and the
wifi is great. Good wifi is important to me. I’m an historical novelist – there
are always 101 things you need to check on the spot and I keep everything on
the cloud (it’s like having a set of filing cabinets on your toolbar).
I think I like the anonymity, the bustle,
the food on tap (you don’t have to stop writing to go and make something to
eat) and sometimes just being able to stare out of the window at people passing
in the street – daydreaming is a great way to come up with ideas. My regular
seat has spawned lots of difficulties and a few
murders for Mirabelle Bevan, my 1950s female detective, to solve.
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