Lesley

'You're lucky', says the short woman with grey hair who is selling ice-creams at a suburban theatre.  'I've only just given myself one'.  She is wearing a long cardigan which is embroidered repeatedly with the first four letters of the alphabet.  On her nose is a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and around her neck hangs a large gold crucifix.  She tells me that it was only about a year ago that she chose and adopted a  middle name for herself.  'I had to fill in a lot of forms', she says.

I ask what prompted the decision.  'When I was younger I wanted to be a boy', she says.  She smiles.  'I've got over that now'.  She chose the name because she likes it but spells it the female way.  I ask why her parents didn't give her one.  She explains that her mother named her after a movie star and she didn't want to add anything extraneous.

Heading back into the theatre, I catch her eye.  We wave.