William walks in Birmingham city centre
The transcript below is of excerpts from the novel used in the video as William walks around Birmingham city centre in the UK.
Transcript of the video taken from The Escalator
It was no surprise to him that this portentous time in his life should coincide with Diwali, with Eid at the end of Ramadan, and with Armistice Day.
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On another occasion, he had walked with Cas through the Edward Burne-Jones room in the museum to the Staffordshire Hoard. Cas had liked the folded cross. Were crosses not meant to be folded? she had asked perversely.
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Having recovered his breath – few would have known from his posture that he had been Concorde’s chief test pilot – he shuffled back down the ramp past McDonald’s.
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He was filled with a sense of wonder that life, for all its hardship, should be so simple, that love could change everything.
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When he walked along the street like this, there was never any confusion about where he was. This could only be Birmingham.
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He walked slowly, in keeping with the dignity of his office, past the heavy but animated sculpture of a bull with one hoof lifted – a relic of the early Roman Empire no doubt, where Rome and the Church had their roots.
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Looking back on his own life from this angle, with Nelson in view, William could see that worldly achievements did not matter at all. The only actions that mattered were the small kindnesses that he had shown to other people, and there were precious few of those.
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He walked slowly, reverentially even, carrying his bags into the church. He sat down towards the front in a pew not far from the choir stalls. He was also within sight of the Burne-Jones window. This made him feel almost as much at home as viewing the William Morris wallpaper that had once been in their sitting room.
The Escalator concerns boundaries and contrasts. A contrasting seascape video from the novel.
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