22 Western Road

20 December 2006 Aunty Val and Saffron having Christmas tea with Nana on our last visit to 22 Western Road, Leigh-on-Sea. It's been awhile but I can still taste Nana's tea in my mouth, hear the sound of the boiler, feel the velvet of the sofa armrests on my elbows, and sense the sometimes almost-tropical heat on my neck. But most of all, I can still smell the house - a familiar mix of frying fat, lavender, soft vegetables, English air and notes of whatever she had just made for tea.