visitor, Bury, zero

 On the wall beside our front doorstep.

There is a Chinese restaurant in Sevenoaks with a pleasant outside seating area. On a return visit today I question the owner about his Mancunian accent. I'm a Manchester boy," he says, "Or rather Bury. I was born in Bury." Why did you come south?" "I was 18," he says."I wanted to leave home. I told my parents I was going to London. My Mother gave me one of those green phone cards which the Post Office provided in those days. But otherwise my parents put no obstacles in my way. I got the train to Kings Cross. On the train I met a woman who said whatever you do, don't stay in London. So I took a train to Croydon. I started off down the road outside the station but it didn't seem promising, so I turned round and went the other way. Before long I found a Chinese take-away. I said I'm looking for a job. They said we're looking for someone. My experience was Chinese take-aways and fish and chips, my parents business. I stayed there three years. This is my restaurant," he says  looking round him. "I've been running it for 10 years. I'm 48." I tell him that I was amused to see someone deliver a plate of English pub sandwiches to the restaurant last time we were there. (I reported the incident here). "They were for me," he says, smiling. I need a change sometimes."

Reading up about zero I find this. It is the sort of thing I am looking for. It is attributed to a manuscript found in the 12th Century Salem Monastery  in German.:
 "Every number arises from One, and this in turn from the Zero. In this lies a great and sacred mystery."