In My Head There is a Room.
Maybe about 3 metres by 4 metres. It is an old room with a few cracks in the walls, one of which is painted a shade of green which is bold, but not too bright (though it is the limier side of the middle). The other walls are painted an off-white. One of these white walls has two old windows with wooden frames that are the same colour as the walls. The paint is peeling off and showing some of the old dark hardwood. The floors are also made from a dark hardwood, though a bit lighter than the window frames. They are smooth and polished, though far from perfectly flat. The windows look out down a green hill, across the city and out to sea, over which a storm is rolling in. It feels good to be inside, even if it is a little colder than what would be completely optimum. In the corner, in front of the left window and adjacent to the green wall is an old desk. To one side is a computer kitted out with editing and audio software. It has been put to the side to not spoil the view from the desk. An old typewriter sites front and centre. It sits without pretense, and is there to be used. It clearly has been used, as shown by the rough stack of paper by the desk lamp, with ideas typed out in detail on them, and the waste paper basket filled with all that didn’t make the grade. In the space between the two windows is a place where artwork is displayed. The art is all original and made by either myself or a close friend and it is changed as required. An easel stands in front of the other window which has a big box of acrylic paint under it. A filing cabinet stands in the corner filled with legal papers and old ideas that, while worthy of being kept, have been deemed to be “just cluttering up the desk”. A large speaker sits next to the filing cabinet, while it’s stereo partner sits at the other end of the same wall. Above the speakers on the walls are shelves filled with books, CDs and movies, except in the middle which has a large television attached to the wall. Below the television is a unit consisting of a record player, radio tuner, and Bluray player. Opposite all this is the green wall, which has many awards and qualifications hanging on it, or sitting on a shelf next to the desk. In the middle of the wall is an old, impossibly comfortable brown couch which is positioned to make a perfect stereo triangle with the speakers. One or two other bits of art also reside there. On the fourth remaining wall, there are two sets of simple stairs, one above the other. The lower set descend into a small room, with guitars, a bass, some amps, microphones and some recording equipment, all pretty arbitrarily placed around the room. The floor is covered in a large salvaged rug, and the walls are just straight red brick. The upper staircase, goes up into a loft above the main room. There are photos stuck the the wall next to the stairs as you go up. The loft is made entirely out of wood, even the pointed ceiling above it. Some cupboards are built in towards the bottom corners of the triangular prism the loft makes, but this hasn’t stopped clothes being strewn all over the low, DIY double bed the lies in the very middle. At the far end, there is a small circular window that looks out over the same view. In front of this is a low bench with a few power points and a gap to the side to have room for a bar fridge. There is a kettle and a toaster, and there is always beer in the fridge for when people come to visit.
I am alone in this room, but I am very happy.
