June ran the picture framer’s at the end of Broadway Market in Hackney, London. You’d go to drop off a picture and discuss framing options (she had a very good eye) and end up staying for 40 minutes, gossiping about the man upstairs and receiving a step-by-step account of her recent holiday to Japan. The only way to leave was to slowly edge out of the door until you could make a run for it, or if someone else arrived to take your place.
It was a laugh a minute at June’s from the moment she met us at the door, wearing bright white Nike running shoes with fluorescent pink laces. It was November, and cold with crisp sunlight coming through the vertical blinds into her open-plan kitchen. A well-stocked drinks trolley stood next to the plastic pram of her granddaughter’s dolly. There were dolls and teddies in most corners.
