Typography & design by
Richard Wolfströme

Exhibition and installation
by Standard 8

Website
Words William Shaw
Design Richard Wolfströme
Photography Kenny Laurenson

Publishing consultant Adrian Driscoll

An Unmadeup Production

They all knew it would be their last night together

The shop window, Arunas Newsagent, 55 Gardner Street

Joshua, Jack and Ellie crowd round the window. Ellie is the one with the pen, noting down the number.

TO RENT 1 bedroom sunny FLAT
in peacfull space
bedroom kitchen balcony lounge bathroom and shower
short let £90 a week for 6 weeks all rent in advance no deposit

It’s Monday. Joshua is supposed to be back at work today; he is – was – a carer in a psychiatric unit. Jack doesn’t start back until Tuesday but neither of them is going. What’s the point?

There were three of them – Jack, Joshua and Harry – who arrived from Cambridge on the coach on Friday; they were visiting Ellie who’s been living in Brighton with her partner since September.

It’s about everyone saying goodbye to Harry.

Harry is emigrating to Australia. They’ve known each other since school. They were the close-knit group who did everything together, thriving on the belief that no one else liked them. Cambridge is horrible. It’s full of students who look down at the people who live there. Everyone who lives there is an arsehole – apart from them.

The four of them – plus Ellie’s partner – spent the weekend carousing together, gradually saying goodbye. Saturday was especially drunken. They sat together, despising the karaoke singers at Horatio’s on the pier, and shivering in the darkness of the beach, Harry in the fedora hat he’d bought earlier that day. They all knew it would be their last night together.

Joshua thought Harry would cry at some point; he’s an emotional person. He never did.

Lovely, funny, neurotic Harry.

Sunday morning they woke up and started drinking vodka again in Ellie’s flat. In a few hours they would have to catch the bus.

That’s when Ellie said to them, "Don’t go home." Joshua and Jack said, "All right."

But Harry said he had to go. He had a shipping company coming around to take his belongings.

He left on the bus yesterday afternoon. Joshua and Jack are looking for a flat in Brighton. There’s nothing to keep them in Cambridge. There’s no reason to stay there now Harry’s gone.