An excellent place!” And a moment later he energetically underlined how sure he was: “What’s more, it’s downright puritan!” As I had some experience of the level of puritanism a boarding house in Kensington needs to start to be entertaining, I decided there and then. Within two days I’d been given the right to occupy a first-floor room in a brick house with a wrought-iron fence in that famous neighborhood. A few hours later I met two compatriots at supper in the dining room: one was a Tàpies and the other a Niubó. I’ve had a fair amount of contact with them ever since. I thought they were two excellent lads, two perfect friends. They had been living in London for several years. They had adapted perfectly, but had occasional bouts of nostalgia. Every now and then, for some reason or other, they had severe attacks of nostalgia. It was Catalan-style nostalgia: emotional, visible, and weepy. That was when they were unbearable. Tàpies sported a trim mustache and his ideal was to save.
