Faceless no more

I finally met my tenant face to face today. I can't say I'd been looking forward to the experience - after all, I handed him an eviction notice at a time I'd personally hate to be made homeless. And earlier in the day I'd been helping my eldest brother (along with my other brothers) clear out a shop that will soon serve as his new office and I was consequently covered in a dozen different shades of muck. (amusingly my Mum tried to persuade me that I should have worn some old clothes for the task - I had to explain to her that these were my old clothes). In short, I didn't think I was about to make the best possible first impression.

Still as it turned out I'd worried over nothing (me, worrying over nothing - can you imagine?). He turned out to be an extremely welcoming host, who seemed genuinely happy to meet me, and genuinely grateful that I'd allowed him use of my home for the past eighteen months. I for my part expressed my gratitude that he'd caretaken on my behalf. We spoke for a while, both learning something about the other, and I much enjoyed the conversation. My guilt was greatly assuaged when he confessed to me that he'd actually found the timing of the eviction to be beneficial. He'd been long planning on working on a project in France, but had so far lacked the necessary impetus to actually make his move. It was strange being back in my flat again, even more so to be a guest in it. Everything was broadly as I remembered it, though I'd realised how much I've filtered my memories of it. It was good to see it in person again. Made me realise why I decided on it - it's absurdly small, but delightful and quirky too.

It was also strange seeing how Tim, my tenant, had made it his home. Curiously he told me that he'd never seen it as a long term home - he'd never installed a phone line for example, or even turned on the central heating, but he'd still made an impression on the place. It was arranged and cluttered in a way I'd never conceived of, lending it a great warmth and homeliness. Chaotic, yes, but charming and whimsical too. Tim makes his living as an artist, a discovery which pleases me greatly. Much of his clutter included past and present projects and those that I saw I very much liked, particularly his current work in progress. Sadly, the finished painting will be beyond my budget, but he did say he was planning on releasing prints of his work. I'm definitely interested, on the merit of the work alone, although I must admit that the idea of owning a work of art that was actually created in my flat is an added incentive.

I discovered too that he has a website to advertise his wares. I offered him some advice on it, and one thing he asked me was how to increase his rankings on search sites such as Google. The best answer I could give was to simply get his site linked to, particularly from other relevant sites. It may not help him much, given that I'm hardly an authoritative voice on the subject, but I'd hazard that if you're in interested in contemporary original Scottish art you could do far worse than visit the website of Tim Sandys.

Least I can do really.