Briefly AWOL

[blamebrampton]

We are house hunting.

Surely there is no sentence that evokes such a combination of life-enhancing hope and soul-destroying horror?

Sadly, this means that my life outside work is filled with viewings, and the subsequent gentle chastisement of agents: 'No, I am an editor. The word "spacious" definitely has a different meaning to the one you are giving it. Let us not speak of "affordable".'

But, pollymel and sinden, Summer Hill is on our list of possible/probables, so more regular ukulele dates could be a thing!

And I watched White Nights for the first time in about 28 years. I saw a video of a recent Mikhail Baryshnikov performance and he is still grippingly brilliant, but back then he was simply astonishing.

It occurs to me that of the best male dancers of the 20th century, he is the only one we were able to see really grow old. Nijinsky died far too young and Nureyev was not strong in the last years of his life. Misha onstage as a man in late middle age changes what you think a dancer should be, and expands our definitions. I need to hunt down the name of that filmed performance: it was less than four years old and contained a table and a wonderful mature ballerina. Sounds less than thrilling, I know, but I was spellbound.

Back to the packing. Stay well, you lot! 

Comments

[anthraxia.livejournal.com]

Ah, Estate Agent speak. Contains space of some sort or another, ergo 'spacious'. Rupert Murdoch could afford it, ergo 'affordable'. There's also: can't swing a cat and an absolute furnace in summer, ergo 'cosy', a decorator with the colour sense of an excited dog gave every room at least two statement walls (where the statement was mostly WTF!) and/or the bathroom and kitchen were butchered by cowboy tradies within the last decade, ergo 'all modern interior'.

Fortunately Menage Brammers will not bite on 'close to several good schools', so you need not go through 'translates to school is next door, expect your cats to be terrorised, the garden full of balls, and silence to be unknown between 7am and 7pm, oh, and parents will park across your driveway with infuriating regularity'. As far as I can tell, 'good for the shops' means 'it'll be such a pain in the arse you'll spend big every time to avoid having to go back any sooner than you have to', 'easy for public transport' means either your bedroom windows rattle when the trains go past, or it's easy, there is none, and 'would suit students' means no other poor sod is desperate enough to live there.

Good luck!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Primary schools are OK, I like to collect as many balls as possible and since we don't drive and the cats are inside cats, and I should be at least up for work by 9, the other factors aren't problems.

The transport has been the most annoying thing. 'Close to shops if you have a Volvo' is no use to a walking/cycling household! And we have trains outside the front door now!