He parked then made his way along to his framer, where David handed him the two bubble-wrapped and taped packages. After wishing him a happy Christmas and a great holiday, Jason walked back to the car park and placed the pictures in the boot of the car, intending to drop them into the two clients on his way home, then made his way to the library.

It was a while since he’d last been in a public library, but that smell seemed exactly the same in each one he’d ever visited. It was a smell he wished he could capture with paints. The smell of books, of paper seeped in knowledge, learning, information, fun. He glanced at rows of shelves, the spines of countless volumes. So many books, and he’d only read a tiny fraction of the ones he wanted to. And he knew, sadly, he only ever would.

During these past couple of years, apart from a week’s holiday in Tuscany when he’d devoured all four novels of the Alexandria Quartet – a treat he’d been promising himself for years – he’d barely read anything, or watched any television either. After painting late into the night, pretty much every night, he would tumble into bed too exhausted to think of picking up a book. But as he stared around now, he felt a twinge of guilt, and determined to work harder at making time to read.

Approaching a middle-aged woman at the front desk, who was looking up at him, he said, ‘Hi, I’m after local newspaper archives.’

‘Mr Danes, is it?’

He blushed. ‘Yes.’ He liked being recognized, but at the same time, it always slightly embarrassed him, because he never knew quite how to respond, and whatever he said always sounded a bit lame to him.

She gave him a smile that was much less stern than her glasses. ‘I just want to say I’m a big fan of your work.’

‘You are? Thank you so much!’

Lame again, he thought.

‘We have two of your early pictures in our home. One from your “Pub Bores” series – my husband says he’s sure it’s a man in the pub he drinks in! And we have one of your spaniels – we have a King Charles who could be its double. They give us so much pleasure.’

‘Well – um – thank you.’

‘So, local newspaper archives. How far back do you need?’

‘How far do you go?’ he asked, relieved to get down to the business he was here for. But pleased by her enthusiasm for his work, nonetheless.

‘Well, we have the Sussex Express, Argus and the Mid-Sussex Times – but we only keep hard copies for a month. We do have the Sussex Express on microfilm, but only as far as 2010. Eastbourne Library will have the Sussex Express and the Argus, but the same as us, microfilm only going back to 2010. They also have the Eastbourne Herald. If you need to go further back you could try the British Library – they have a comprehensive newspaper archive. Pretty much everything, going right back in time.’