Don’t read this. Go to Herne Hill instead.
By Jodie Trussler
You cheeky monkey you shouldn’t be reading this. You should be going to Herne Hill right now. Go on.
Before SCA I’d spend my days frolicking in fields with anyone who said yes to coming on a dog walk with me. Now I spend all my free time on trains going to and from school. Luckily for me, this means I’m a frequent visitor of Herne Hill train station. What does this mean I hear you ask, well settle down children I’m going to tell you a magical tale.
It all started on the 6th day of school. September 27th. It was a mild day, the train was late. I was strolling up and down the platform when I spotted a lovely little sign signalling me towards a waiting room. I’ve always been one to push the boat out and explore so in I went. I was greeted by a grubby old Ikea bookshelf at the other end of the room. I started strolling towards it. The first thing I noticed was the large selection of French titles on the bottom shelf, interesting but nothing that made my jaw hit the floor. Then I saw it. A gorgeous little yellow note sat on top of the shelf.
Interesting.
Golden gate bridge you say? Lovely.
Little did I know that this was the start of the rest of my life. I needed to know who had done this. Who has this stuff lying around? Who thinks to leave it at Herne Hill? Who thinks they need to specify that the golden gate bridge is in San Francisco? I was now involved in a mystery.
Since that day I’ve been finding more and more interesting things.
Score.
This one was extra strange. This is what they use to pay stamp duty in Dehli so have no clue what’s it doing on my little old bookshelf all the way in south London.
An old banana peel and a Peugeot 306 repair manual. What more could a girl want.
Still thinking about my mystery poster.
A few weeks later I strolled in on one of my two daily visits to the bookshelf and saw a man putting stacks of books onto the shelf. Could this be by my bookshelf friend?
No, it wasn’t. His name is Alan and he works at Herne Hill bookshop. However, he was also perplexed by my story and joined me on my mission to discover who left this poster behind. I haven’t seen Alan in a while now, but he does still leave notes on the bookshelf from time to time about book sales and whatnot. All in all, he’s not been that great at finding out who left this poster behind, but I’ll let him off since he is the beating heart of this little bookshelf.
Days, weeks and months have gone by and I’m still no closer to finding out who it was.
I guess I may never find out who left it behind or why but oh well it’s not always about solving every mystery. Maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way.
So if you’re in the market for a landmark poster, head to the waiting room on platform 1 at Herne Hill. As I’ve come to learn you never know what might turn up.
