A night in vampire country
Apr. 7th, 2004 12:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexsarllTo Highgate, not for quiz this time but bidding farewell to one of the ten remaining human beings without any form of blog. At Cambridge it tended to confuse people when I explained that she was my ex-girlfriend's flatmates' schoolfriend but we had hit it off pretty instantly through shared indie spoddery, and for the most part it has always been an archetypally Boy friendship, talking about Stuff rather than feelings. We've not seen nearly enough of each other lately given she's been working in my building and living up the road, and now she's off to Oxford. Her ascent through PA's ranks galls me a little, but she deserves it. I deserve it too, of course, but that's not her fault. And at least I never got posted to Howden.
We meet at The Flask, a surprisingly happy mixture of Ye Olde Englishe Pubbe and Yoof-friendly remodelling. I am obliged to ignore my own policy of never drinking cider you can't see through, and afterwards find myself peculiarly susceptible. Highgate's a somewhat uncanny place; Stephen King's agreed on that point and if he's not an expert on such things, who is? There's a fractured quality to many parts of London, perhaps it's the weight of all that history, but I feel it most around here. Perhaps that's also because it's pretty much the edge of my territory. There's only one place in London I hesitate to go through fear of the Other rather than chavs, and it's in Highgate. Maybe it's just the scrumpy but tonight that influence is strong. The Moon is huge, Hollywood and hungry; it's taking up more of the sky than usual and the sky itself is the big sort, the sort you worry about falling into. Or something falling from. As I move downhill away from it all, into the stronger stockades of Holloway and Archway, I'm reminded of the eerie town in Flex Mentallo made from those wonky little houses you put in fishtanks. In the daytime, Pond's Square is an English idyll but by night I know I could never live in Highgate.
Oh, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
puzzled_anwen - I assume I'm exempt from Self-Affirmation Day on grounds of overweening arrogance? Give it up for me, I'm fvcking awesome.
We meet at The Flask, a surprisingly happy mixture of Ye Olde Englishe Pubbe and Yoof-friendly remodelling. I am obliged to ignore my own policy of never drinking cider you can't see through, and afterwards find myself peculiarly susceptible. Highgate's a somewhat uncanny place; Stephen King's agreed on that point and if he's not an expert on such things, who is? There's a fractured quality to many parts of London, perhaps it's the weight of all that history, but I feel it most around here. Perhaps that's also because it's pretty much the edge of my territory. There's only one place in London I hesitate to go through fear of the Other rather than chavs, and it's in Highgate. Maybe it's just the scrumpy but tonight that influence is strong. The Moon is huge, Hollywood and hungry; it's taking up more of the sky than usual and the sky itself is the big sort, the sort you worry about falling into. Or something falling from. As I move downhill away from it all, into the stronger stockades of Holloway and Archway, I'm reminded of the eerie town in Flex Mentallo made from those wonky little houses you put in fishtanks. In the daytime, Pond's Square is an English idyll but by night I know I could never live in Highgate.
Oh, and
puzzled_anwen - I assume I'm exempt from Self-Affirmation Day on grounds of overweening arrogance? Give it up for me, I'm fvcking awesome.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 04:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 07:31 am (UTC)I was in the Flask yesterday afternoon, in fact.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 07:36 am (UTC)We were in the Flask's non-smoking room. Its utter non-smokiness was another coffin-nail for those who insist on an overall smoking ban, I feel.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 04:54 am (UTC)I think Highgate's marvellous, but then I'm not scared of the dark and what may lurk therein.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 05:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 05:25 am (UTC)Your arrogance is a tiny stickleback, next to my killer whale of self-regard, frankly.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 07:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 07:44 am (UTC)anyway, my point - have you seen them there 24s yet? cos i need the video. or rather, i need to know if i need to buy another video for sunday or not.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 07:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-07 05:05 pm (UTC)To me it doesnt make london feel fractured, it makes london feel sensible as a whole far more than in all the central architypaly london areas.