There's no place like 127.0.0.1

Both Worlds, Gibraltar

Over the years I've lived in quite a few places. I was born and grew up in Plymouth, then moved to Gibraltar when I was 11, then had a spell in uni, then moved out and got the first in a series of my own rented flats, then I bought my own flat, and then I sold it to move back to England where I once more joined the slew of renters. I've also worked out that in my life I've owned ten beds. When you travel for 40 minutes on a tube, it gives you time to think about these random things.


I've had more beds than this

This is a quick rundown of the places I've lived.

Age 0 - 11 / Semi-detached house / Plymouth

I loved this house. Looking back I don't suppose it was anything special, but for me it was the definition of "home". Growing up here my brother and I spent most of our time on the Commodore Plus/4 or out in the streets on our bikes. We used to taunt "the bullies" at the end of our street (who were probably only 13 years old but seemed like scary grownups to us), push eachother about in trolleys in the Asda carpark on Sundays (in the 80s, shops used to close on Sundays and trolleys were not chained up), and hang about in our various dens built in or around trees in the area. Then our parents made us move to Gibraltar against our will.

Age 11 - 19 / Parents' Flat / Gibraltar

There are no houses in Gibraltar. Everyone lives in flats unless they are extremely rich, as there is not much land to build on, so building happens in an upwards fashion. It was ok being a teenager here, even though I complained initially about not living in England anymore and missing out on everything that was going on back home. In Gibraltar the social life was different, the TV was mostly Spanish TV (until we got Sky hooked up) and the music on the radio was terrible. Culture shock. Anyway, we got an Atari STE and that shut me up for a few years while I became a geek. In between playing Gauntlet and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the STE, we also got a Sega Mega Drive on which I spent a couple of summers playing Sonic and Sonic II indoors. (Also Micro Machines and Double Dragon) Summer in Gibraltar is terribly hot, and the whole populace descends on the 3/4 beaches. You can't swing a cat, and if you try you get sunburnt in about 2 minutes. So I stayed indoors and moped.

Age 19-20 / Uni / Bath

Finally moved out of parents house for a year. Got back into some sort of decent social life, which at that time was full of Britpop and the Prodigy. Made loads of friends and never wanted to go back to Gibraltar ever again. However the course just wasn't for me so I had to go back to start working as a web designer for their first ISP, Gibnet.

Age 20-24 / Rented flats / Gibraltar

In the 90s there were not many places you could rent in Gibraltar. There are simply too many people there and not enough space. I think at this time there were only 2 buildings you could rent in, Ocean Heights (in the City centre) or Both Worlds (on the beach). I chose the beach. I rented 2 flats in Both Worlds, and loved them all. I kept moving just to upgrade to bigger ones. They all had balconies facing the sea and were small but brilliant. I never regret moving to Both Worlds. Finally the landlord sold the building, it was refurbished (as I lived in it... which was not fun) and then people could buy them. So I bought one.

Age 24-29 / My flat / Gibraltar

My flat ruled. I've got pictures but I don't want to post them as it upsets me. I hated Gibraltar so much by this point, the only good thing about it was my flat. If I could have picked it up and dropped it somewhere on the beach in England that would have been perfect. As it was it was a 1 bedroom flat with a massive balcony, on the end of a corridor so nobody else had any reason to walk past my property. As soon as I noticed this I put up a big iron gate - which the landlord's lawyers (ugh.. flat in Gibraltar are all leasehold for some reason) tried to argue with me about, but I ignored them. It's great having your own flat. You can paint it any colours you want. I painted my dining room purple. Including the ceiling. I hope the new owners had fun trying to paint that back to magnolia.

Age 29-Present / Rented flats / London

Gibraltar nearly drove me mad so I moved to London. Everyone said I wouldn't be able to do it, like jealous people tend to do to try and put you off things they don't have the guts to do themselves. So I just did it. I even flew my cats over. They love it here. Lived in a really nice place in Wapping, unfortunately it was only a 6 month lease so I had to move to a temporary place in Walthamstow which was hands down the worst house I have ever lived in. Met my current flatmate there, and we've since moved to Camden (which was so cool but the landlord was an unprintable word) and now we live in Willesden in the most amazing and massive flat, with our own bathrooms. One thing I have learned is never to share a flat with BOYS because all they do is pee on the floor and leave hairs in the bath.

And now I suppose I might do some work instead of blogging halfheartedly.