The town seemed to echo with students’ voices, shouting a little too loud. I think they had been pre-Halloween partying. I saw a three of them on the Prom by the Bandstand as I was walking. One of them, a lad, was dressed in a Dracula cloak. His voice was the loudest – sharp, strident and laughing, too much. They seemed to be following me home (even after I took the short cut down the old life boat slipway) and consequently I heard him down every street and round every corner, or so it appeared. Autumn has set in, though turning the clocks back has helped a little. The street lights were on down St David’s Road. An aberration but a welcome one at that. They usually don’t come on until about 4 am. I love the lit windows too. There are many in town – students working late, or insomniacs unable to sleep. I love the yellow oblongs against the black, or even the purple one I saw in that 2-storey block of flats behind The Glengower (is that the dancing man’s?). I usually listen to Radio 3 first thing but Jonathon Swain (the presenter for this particular 3 week slot) was playing a dirge-ful, droning-sadness-of-a-song by Penderecki and it was too much for me in all this darkness so I switched to Classic FM. I wanted warm voices and light music. Bill Overton was on with his milk-chocolate tones and he read out a text from a man who couldn’t sleep and was making Christmas cards instead. Nice.
