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Here in the basement
I’m sat in Bruce’s office in the basement of the Melville house. Developed basements are cool I’ve decided. It’s different from having an upstairs, as is the norm in the UK… it’s got a more cosy feeling somehow being down here. Also I’ve read so many trashy american novels which talk of ‘dens’, ‘rec rooms’ and ‘basements’ that they’ve reached almost mythical status in my silly british brain… So the fact I’m sleeping in a room in the basement is pretty cool for me. It’s a lovely house, in a lovely neighbourhood, chock full of lovely people.
The People On The Plane.
I sat next to a really nice guy called Dean on the plane on the way over. I discovered more about him than one would normally discover about a stranger you shared a brief 12 hours with. This isn’t because we decided to tell each other our life stories, but because the woman in the seat directly in front of him turned out to be Linda, who he dated for about a year at the age of 17!
They hadn’t seen each for15 years, so there was a lot of catching up to do. It was pretty hard to switch off from their conversation, and impossible to sleep… so whether I was reading, watching a film, or listening to my walkman I would pick up snippets of their lives; both back in Slough in the 80’s or here and now in the present.
My favourite part was Linda’s revelation that when they went out Dean had a perm. I actually laughed out loud. It was very hard to imagine the pleasant, slightly tubby and balding man sat next to me with a Kevin Keegan perm. Even if it WAS the 80’s. Even though I had a bad perm in the 80’s too.
Christmas Lights
I was prepared for something but not this. It’s not even every house; in fact many houses are tastfully decorated, some are even bare. There are so many christmas lights. SO MANY. And there are so many houses that just look ridiculous.
I must be very british, but I’m quite surprised at the amount of crass people who go well over the top with the dectorations… So far I’ve seen:
Houses totally covered in nets of lights, white and multi-coloured, static or flashing
Light sculptures or reindeer in the garden
Light sculptures of many reindeer and a sleigh and santa on the roof. (this seems quite popular as well)
A full size nativity in the front garden
flashing candy-canes hanging off the eves
flashing 5 foot candles either side of the fron door
all of the above. on the same house.
I’ll bring back pictures,
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