"CAN you use the other half, John?" "Go on, then." Well, why not? I'm in Alexander Meddowes' place, an uppity terrace overlooking the London Road, and an apres-tea snifter couldn't do us any harm.
A well-known broker in fine art, Alex has placed before me, along with part two of a generous gin and tonic, a Tracey Emin. Not so long ago this framed piece, Fantastic to Feel Beautiful Again, featuring embroidery your granny used to do (but better
) and a sketch of a nude, legs akimbo, would have fetched a couple of bob at a car boot sale.
But it's a Tracey Emin, for God's sake, and Alex well knows it will take more than a trick at his selling exhibition of pictures and works of art from private houses, at Royal Terrace now until the 20th.
It will be a diversion from the serious exhibits, among them A Regatta on the Grand Canal by and Bernardo Canaletto (his dad's work is in the Queen's collection), a stunning in-your-face Culloden battle scene and recently commissioned animal bronzes including a King Kong-ish gorilla.
How's things for brokers in Alex's line anyway? "The good stuff will sell. Real people with real money are still out there. But in these ticklish times the middle-of-the-road stuff is sticky."
Another G and T was looming. You never find Meddowes morose. But I've seen him jollier. Well, he'd just seen his Staffie put to sleep after 13 years ("the house is utter desolation without her, we'll get another dog, same breed") and he has an ongoing transport problem. "I'm so cross with Edinburgh's trams. What a mess! I've not met one single person who wants them, have you? The streets are a shambles and it seems the council don't give a damn."
Whoa there, Alex! He'd have had me crying into my glass. Johnny Cash was walking the line from another room. The broker's a fan, and an even bigger fan of Leonard Cohen. "But I wouldn't pay a fortune for a ticket, I went out and bought three of his CDs instead. You know, I'd love to meet Tracey."
Here's a man who needs to get himself another Staffie. Pronto.
Afterwords . . . . . spoken by 40-something Greta Scacchi: "I'd like to see a shift so that actresses with gorgeous fashionable haircuts don't have to keep a blue-rinse wig in their cupboard."
The full article contains 413 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
