(no subject)
mizhenka just did one of these meme things about where she's lived in the past, so I thought I would do one too. I've spent a lot of time of Google Street View this morning exclaiming at how everything looks different. Different normally in the sense that the houses have been greatly improved since I lived there! I've forgotten and remembered pubs, laundrettes, roads to work and small rooms in old places. It was nice.
Seventh Avenue, Lancing, West Sussex
My parents bought the house when it was a tiny bungalow and gradually extended it into a proper house. My dad had an office in the loft and it was like a secret room; you've creep past all these boxes in the low light and open a door to see filing cabinets, a desk and magnetic fish in a tank. I loved that office. My bedroom was downstairs and at some point I decided I wanted it to be mint green in colour. I spent the next few years blu-tacking every teen magazine poster I could find to those walls. We finally moved out when I was twelve and I was so relieved; my parents had built a conservatory onto the back of my bedroom and I had no privacy (or air).
Ring Road, Lancing, West Sussex
The second in a final DIY project from the Newsoms. I should probably mention that my dad is a builder, right? The house looks crap from the front but stands on a hill and the view from the other side is lovely. This was a bungalow too. My bedroom walls were mouldy and the garden was like a jungle. When my dad started building on it, I would sit on the scaffolding and walk around on the bare boards where my new bedroom was going to be. I was around fourteen. I don't remember much about my new bedroom other than lying on my bed having three-way phone conversations with my angsty teenage friends, and drunkenly typing in my Word Document journal. These were embarrassing times where I discovered hair dye and black clothes and boys.
Rowlands Road, Worthing, West Sussex
At seventeen, my parents and I realised that we were fed up with each other so my friend John offered that I move into the spare room in his flat. It was above a shop on the far end of the high street and doors down from the charity shop where I volunteered every Saturday. There was a small balcony where I grew tomatoes and chilli. My friend Steven would come over and we'd lounge on the sofa watching Spaced and eating choc ices, or wander the two minutes down to the beach at midnight and talk about life. I was very depressed at that time, and spent a lot of my days lying in bed becoming obsessed with Whose Line Is It Anyway. I know. I even made fan-videos. I was very isolated so I remember the times my friends visited well. Alan was sick in the sink once.
At eighteen, I worked at British Home Stores in the lingerie section. I hated it. My best friend Steven was going to study English and Biology at somewhere called "Keele". I decided that maybe I'd like to come along for the ride, so on the spur of the moment I applied through clearing and got a telephone call hours later to say that I had been accepted.
Hawthorns Halls, Keele University, Stafford
By the strangest coincidence, Steven and I were placed in the same halls of residence. I was in A Block and he was in F Block. I spent most of my time there though. My bedroom had mould, a window that wouldn't open, bunk-beds and cockroaches. And it was absolutely tiny. First year was gross because I had to share a bathroom with about thirty other girls. Still, my friends and I discovered the one proper gay bar in town. We went there every week, staggering back at 4AM to make toast in the shared kitchen. The only downside to spending most of my time in another block was when everyone piled into one room to watch horror movies. Walking back at midnight was scary.
Sheppard Street, Stoke-on-Trent
Obviously now I never wanted to go home, so I signed an earlier contract with my four friends and moved into a house in Stoke over the summer. I had the smallest room and mistakenly painted the walls red so it was like a cave. Added to this the life-size cardboard cut-out of David Tennant I got for my birthday that year and my bedroom was a bit weird. It was your typical student house; a trolley in the back garden, old decorations mingling with the cobwebs in the living room. Two hamsters, which later either died or vanished. We'd watch videos and go out and have a nice, carefree nineteen year old life together. It was nice.
Hawthorns Halls, Keele, Staffordshire
Steven's boyfriend was a resident tutor at Keele, so we stayed with him over the summer. House 2 was massive and I had a nice room on the second floor. I spent most of my time working and hanging out at the Wetherspoons in Stoke. I cut my hair into a fringe and pierced my lip. When I came back to the boys, we'd watch House of Cards and Jonathan Creek together.
Barnes Halls, Keele, Staffordshire
When you're a third year you get to live in contained "apartments". Four bedrooms, a kitchen and a toilet/shower. Keele had a lot of silly rules like how you weren't allowed to keep your bedroom doors open. We had terrible plastic curtains and there were a lot of fire drills at 5AM. Third year was a frenzied mess. I spent a lot of it crying. I went through a stage of inviting strangers back to our flat to play Guitar Hero. I was really involved with Creative Writing and loved it. My flat mates and I bought weed and played pictionary, watching Family Guy together in the kitchen. I remember getting emotional when Michael Jackson died. My bedroom was practically next to the student bar and my walls would shake at 2AM every Thursday.
Rosalind Court, Salford
This was probably the nicest flat I've lived in. I moved there with two friends from university and we painted some of the walls with chalkboard paint. My bedroom was covered with Okkervil River lyrics and I had a massive king-size bed. We had parties, standing on beds doing shots of tequila. Ollie and I would sit on the balcony wall for hours, talking and drinking coffee. We debated getting a pet lamb but I settled with an african land snail called Max. We watched all the seasons of Gilmore Girls over the summer. I got a temporary job at Waterstones and met some really cool people, and went to a lot of great gigs.
Over the summer my plans to move into a different flat in the same area with a friend fell through and so I moved back home to Sussex for a month. It was weird living in my childhood room and worse that I suddenly had rules to follow. I was sad and watched a lot of Buffy.
Middleham Street, Rusholme, Manchester
I wish I could say there were some nice parts to living here, but I don't remember them. I moved in with an ex-boyfriend and it was a bad relationship.Originally we were going to move into a different house, but the deal fell through so I moved here without seeing the place first. The house was dirty and had very little natural light. When I moved in and saw where I would be living from now on, I cried. We had a kitten though, which was the saving grace of that time. I was unemployed and restless and everything went bad. I remember arguments outside the house and being chased down the road a lot.
Clarendon Street, Dukinfield, Manchester
In January 2011 I escaped and stayed with my friend Tom for a few weeks. I had a room that I shared with a broken tumble-drier that rattled and groaned. It cost a lot of money to get back into Manchester city centre so I watched a lot of Friends and searched for a new house. Tom and I would sing showtunes whilst he played the piano and I would walk around in his crazy stilettos trying not to fall over.
Old Moat Lane, Withington, Manchester
I rented a room off a Waterstones friend who was away travelling and lived with two girls called Sarah and my cat (who I had heroically stolen/rescued). We hung out in the living room and ordered takeaway and it was really nice, even though I didn't know them before I moved in. I used to sit at my desk writing song lyrics and eBaying for a casio keyboard but I never recorded any songs. I can't sing.
Lytham Avenue, Chorlton, Manchester
This was a houseshare with an elderly lady. I didn't like it because it was very much "her house" and I would feel awkward going into the kitchen to cook or make coffee. I lived off crisps and houmous a lot. Another girl moved in and it was far too crowded; three humans, two cats and two dogs. I would secretly smoke in the back yard whilst my cat hunted birds. When it got too bad I barely lived there at all; staying with my then-boyfriend and coming back only to see Pepper and get a change of clothes. I couldn't afford to find somewhere different.
Egerton Road, Chorlton, Manchester
This is where I live now! It's a small studio flat that I share with my boyfriend, Pepper and our kitten Velcro. It's too tiny and we are the messiest couple in the world but I wouldn't be anywhere else. It's close to our friends and the pubs, and now I have a bicycle again there are parks and places to visit. I am making wonderful memories here. Someday we'll move somewhere bigger (and get another cat!) but for now, this little place is definitely where my heart is.
Seventh Avenue, Lancing, West Sussex
My parents bought the house when it was a tiny bungalow and gradually extended it into a proper house. My dad had an office in the loft and it was like a secret room; you've creep past all these boxes in the low light and open a door to see filing cabinets, a desk and magnetic fish in a tank. I loved that office. My bedroom was downstairs and at some point I decided I wanted it to be mint green in colour. I spent the next few years blu-tacking every teen magazine poster I could find to those walls. We finally moved out when I was twelve and I was so relieved; my parents had built a conservatory onto the back of my bedroom and I had no privacy (or air).
Ring Road, Lancing, West Sussex
The second in a final DIY project from the Newsoms. I should probably mention that my dad is a builder, right? The house looks crap from the front but stands on a hill and the view from the other side is lovely. This was a bungalow too. My bedroom walls were mouldy and the garden was like a jungle. When my dad started building on it, I would sit on the scaffolding and walk around on the bare boards where my new bedroom was going to be. I was around fourteen. I don't remember much about my new bedroom other than lying on my bed having three-way phone conversations with my angsty teenage friends, and drunkenly typing in my Word Document journal. These were embarrassing times where I discovered hair dye and black clothes and boys.
Rowlands Road, Worthing, West Sussex
At seventeen, my parents and I realised that we were fed up with each other so my friend John offered that I move into the spare room in his flat. It was above a shop on the far end of the high street and doors down from the charity shop where I volunteered every Saturday. There was a small balcony where I grew tomatoes and chilli. My friend Steven would come over and we'd lounge on the sofa watching Spaced and eating choc ices, or wander the two minutes down to the beach at midnight and talk about life. I was very depressed at that time, and spent a lot of my days lying in bed becoming obsessed with Whose Line Is It Anyway. I know. I even made fan-videos. I was very isolated so I remember the times my friends visited well. Alan was sick in the sink once.
At eighteen, I worked at British Home Stores in the lingerie section. I hated it. My best friend Steven was going to study English and Biology at somewhere called "Keele". I decided that maybe I'd like to come along for the ride, so on the spur of the moment I applied through clearing and got a telephone call hours later to say that I had been accepted.
Hawthorns Halls, Keele University, Stafford
By the strangest coincidence, Steven and I were placed in the same halls of residence. I was in A Block and he was in F Block. I spent most of my time there though. My bedroom had mould, a window that wouldn't open, bunk-beds and cockroaches. And it was absolutely tiny. First year was gross because I had to share a bathroom with about thirty other girls. Still, my friends and I discovered the one proper gay bar in town. We went there every week, staggering back at 4AM to make toast in the shared kitchen. The only downside to spending most of my time in another block was when everyone piled into one room to watch horror movies. Walking back at midnight was scary.
Sheppard Street, Stoke-on-Trent
Obviously now I never wanted to go home, so I signed an earlier contract with my four friends and moved into a house in Stoke over the summer. I had the smallest room and mistakenly painted the walls red so it was like a cave. Added to this the life-size cardboard cut-out of David Tennant I got for my birthday that year and my bedroom was a bit weird. It was your typical student house; a trolley in the back garden, old decorations mingling with the cobwebs in the living room. Two hamsters, which later either died or vanished. We'd watch videos and go out and have a nice, carefree nineteen year old life together. It was nice.
Hawthorns Halls, Keele, Staffordshire
Steven's boyfriend was a resident tutor at Keele, so we stayed with him over the summer. House 2 was massive and I had a nice room on the second floor. I spent most of my time working and hanging out at the Wetherspoons in Stoke. I cut my hair into a fringe and pierced my lip. When I came back to the boys, we'd watch House of Cards and Jonathan Creek together.
Barnes Halls, Keele, Staffordshire
When you're a third year you get to live in contained "apartments". Four bedrooms, a kitchen and a toilet/shower. Keele had a lot of silly rules like how you weren't allowed to keep your bedroom doors open. We had terrible plastic curtains and there were a lot of fire drills at 5AM. Third year was a frenzied mess. I spent a lot of it crying. I went through a stage of inviting strangers back to our flat to play Guitar Hero. I was really involved with Creative Writing and loved it. My flat mates and I bought weed and played pictionary, watching Family Guy together in the kitchen. I remember getting emotional when Michael Jackson died. My bedroom was practically next to the student bar and my walls would shake at 2AM every Thursday.
Rosalind Court, Salford
This was probably the nicest flat I've lived in. I moved there with two friends from university and we painted some of the walls with chalkboard paint. My bedroom was covered with Okkervil River lyrics and I had a massive king-size bed. We had parties, standing on beds doing shots of tequila. Ollie and I would sit on the balcony wall for hours, talking and drinking coffee. We debated getting a pet lamb but I settled with an african land snail called Max. We watched all the seasons of Gilmore Girls over the summer. I got a temporary job at Waterstones and met some really cool people, and went to a lot of great gigs.
Over the summer my plans to move into a different flat in the same area with a friend fell through and so I moved back home to Sussex for a month. It was weird living in my childhood room and worse that I suddenly had rules to follow. I was sad and watched a lot of Buffy.
Middleham Street, Rusholme, Manchester
I wish I could say there were some nice parts to living here, but I don't remember them. I moved in with an ex-boyfriend and it was a bad relationship.Originally we were going to move into a different house, but the deal fell through so I moved here without seeing the place first. The house was dirty and had very little natural light. When I moved in and saw where I would be living from now on, I cried. We had a kitten though, which was the saving grace of that time. I was unemployed and restless and everything went bad. I remember arguments outside the house and being chased down the road a lot.
Clarendon Street, Dukinfield, Manchester
In January 2011 I escaped and stayed with my friend Tom for a few weeks. I had a room that I shared with a broken tumble-drier that rattled and groaned. It cost a lot of money to get back into Manchester city centre so I watched a lot of Friends and searched for a new house. Tom and I would sing showtunes whilst he played the piano and I would walk around in his crazy stilettos trying not to fall over.
Old Moat Lane, Withington, Manchester
I rented a room off a Waterstones friend who was away travelling and lived with two girls called Sarah and my cat (who I had heroically stolen/rescued). We hung out in the living room and ordered takeaway and it was really nice, even though I didn't know them before I moved in. I used to sit at my desk writing song lyrics and eBaying for a casio keyboard but I never recorded any songs. I can't sing.
Lytham Avenue, Chorlton, Manchester
This was a houseshare with an elderly lady. I didn't like it because it was very much "her house" and I would feel awkward going into the kitchen to cook or make coffee. I lived off crisps and houmous a lot. Another girl moved in and it was far too crowded; three humans, two cats and two dogs. I would secretly smoke in the back yard whilst my cat hunted birds. When it got too bad I barely lived there at all; staying with my then-boyfriend and coming back only to see Pepper and get a change of clothes. I couldn't afford to find somewhere different.
Egerton Road, Chorlton, Manchester
This is where I live now! It's a small studio flat that I share with my boyfriend, Pepper and our kitten Velcro. It's too tiny and we are the messiest couple in the world but I wouldn't be anywhere else. It's close to our friends and the pubs, and now I have a bicycle again there are parks and places to visit. I am making wonderful memories here. Someday we'll move somewhere bigger (and get another cat!) but for now, this little place is definitely where my heart is.