sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – apparently, though it pisses me of something rotten when people do it to me – so I’m sure Mike won’t mind me memetically responding to his Stations of the Diva doodar with my All The Places I’ve Ever Lived In (conveniently abbreviated to ATPIELI. Oh, and actually it’s only the London ones). Fashioned after a well known piece of conceptual art. But it’s not in a tent.

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ATPIELI 1: Devonshire Place W1

So I’d just got off the boat from Manchester, and ended up sharing a windowless basement flat with two old friends. Bear in mind that I’d never left home before – long story – so I was not an ideal flatmate. I don’t know anything about darts, but the rent was one-hundred-and-eighty pounds a week between the three of us, which even in the early nineties was cheap for a West End address. It was great from the outside; imposing stucco-fronted mansion. On the inside, we were behind an underground dental surgery with all associated noises – lightbulb moment; maybe this is the source of my dental phobia? – and I had to call M in the morning to find out what the weather was like as you couldn’t tell day from night inside the flat. L and H were a great duo: L was anally tidy, a cordon bleu cook and kept the place spotless, and H was doing the whole late-onset rebellion thing and we stayed up all night watching movies.