Tina, companion in Hackney

About Tina

Tina is small and built like a runner, 158 cm of it, and she takes the stairs at Hackney Central two at a time without noticing she has done it. Long espresso brown hair, brown eyes, an economical way of moving. She dresses plainly and precisely: a dark dress, a short jacket, trainers in the bag for the walk home, and nothing on her that would be a nuisance to carry.

Mid twenties, fluent English, and quick to laugh once she has taken your measure, which takes about four minutes. Tina boxes at a gym off Mare Street three mornings a week and is entirely matter of fact about it. She likes live music in rooms too small for it, has a sharp memory for lyrics and none at all for names, and she is the least impressed person in this book by anything expensive.

Oslo on Amhurst Road does the job: a bar downstairs, a room upstairs where somebody is always playing, and a kitchen that carries on later than most in E8. She will check who is on before she says yes to a Thursday. Afterwards it is a walk down to the canal or a flat in the back streets, since Hackney's hotels are mostly over the Bethnal Green side. She lives in Covent Garden and calls the journey half an hour on a good night.

Hackney is two minutes from the Central station and six from the Downs, with trains into Liverpool Street running late. Figures are on rates. Message booking as late as you like: ten o'clock starts are normal out here.

Booking her

Give the desk a start time and an address and Nell will confirm in writing with her arrival time. Tina takes later bookings than most, so an evening that begins at ten is perfectly normal here.

Every figure she works to is public on the board, and the steps sit on the booking page.

An evening with Tina

Late is her natural hour. An evening that starts at ten suits her better than one that starts at seven, and she is honest about why: the rooms she likes only get good once the early crowd has gone home.

Downstairs first, then up when the room fills, and she will tell you within a song whether the band is worth staying for. She dances a bit and does not care who is watching. Afterwards the walk is the best part, down Amhurst Road with the buses thinning out, and she keeps up a commentary on everything the two of you pass. She wants to know what you actually do with your week, not what you do for a living, and the difference between the two questions is the whole of her.