I did not write a tribute to Alan Sillitoe, who died last week (rather brilliantly in between Saturday Night And Sunday Morning). By the time I found out, via twitter in the early hours of Sunday morning, it seemed too late, as I knew the obituary writers of the press would have had all of Sunday to prepare.

I do however; have a Sillitoe related incident to report that happened this morning.

Last night I was looking for my tube of Deep Heat, (other muscular pain relief creams are available), and fumbled under the bed in case the cat had kicked it under. Our bed has drawers underneath, which only leaves about an inch of space between the bed and the floor. I put my hand under and pulled out a book that should have gone back to the library in March. By spooky coincidence, it was an academic study of Sillitoe and his work. It was a very old book, with yellowing pages, and the dates on the bit where your ‘due back’ date goes were very sporadic, the loan before mine being 1998 and the first one 1987.

Although library fines are not exactly megabucks, I was aware of that feeling of being told off that you get from librarians. I had a couple of other books to return, which were in date so this morning I headed for the library. As I handed over the books, I mentioned that one was overdue.

The librarian scanned the books in and looked bewildered. The Alan Sillitoe book was not in the system.

Apparently, it did not belong to the library, although it obviously did as I borrowed it. So I asked about the late fine, and there was none to pay, as the book did not seem to exist. This pissed me off a bit, as I could have kept the book and no one would have been any the wiser. But honesty paid off in this instance.

I have never been religious, and although I do not necessarily believe in heaven and hell, I reckon there must be some kind of ‘afterwards’. So from his viewpoint in the next life, a writer from the Radford area of Nottingham was keeping watch on a writer from the Radford area of Nottingham.

It is tempting to see how many other minor crimes the author will allow me to get away with. Obviously, anything I steal will be dropped into the River Trent, (reference for Sillitoe readers).

Alan Sillitoe 1928-2010