This is another house (2005)

This was taken when I was around a month away from moving to the US. I had been conducting a HUGE eBay sale of most of my possessions and the video camera was about to be packaged up and sent to it's new owner. Having remembered my 1991 video, I decided to make a record of the flat I was about to leave. I always used to say to myself that I'd know when I'd made it in life when I could afford a flat in Marchmont (Edinburgh). Well, in 2001 I could, and this is it. Of course, things are never as good as you imagine they are going to be and the same student parties that I used to go to in the mid 1980's were kinda annoying in the early 21st Century, especially as I wasn't invited. And I had to make quite a few compromises to be able to afford this place at all. It was bought needing some work done on it and my lack of ability in anything practical and the chronic shortage of tradespeople in Edinburgh meant that some upgrading never got done. I did get a nice new kitchen put in, but as you can see from the video, there was a lot that didn't get done.

I still own this place, and may live here again one day as a consequence. Thanks to the ever growing Edinburgh property market, it's now worth a load more money than the mortgage, which is nice.

Looking at the place again, it does bring back some bad memories of the other side of the work from home equation. The side where you are stuck at home ALL the time, and have to talk to Californians at 12 at night and one in the morning, when you'd much rather be in bed. Also, the place is pretty disorganised because of my big eBay sale and immanent move out.

Still, an interesting record all the same. Particularly interesting, well for me anyway, is to spot which possessions are in both the 1991 and the 2005 videos (some particularly treasured possessions went to their new owners very shortly after this video was made), even better, which possessions in the 2005 video I have here - I came here with only one bag after all. No chance that any of the possessions in the 1991 video are here (I think). Actually, no - one thing has survived it all. I couldn't bear to sell my 1987 CD 20th anniversary re-release of Sgt Pepper. It would have been sitting in Downfield Place in 1991, Livingstone Place 2005 and here it is in North Park Apartments San Jose California USA, in the week of the 40th anniversary of Sgt Pepper in 2007.

Flat 2f1, 21 Livingstone Place Edinburgh where I stayed from the 14th of December 2001 to the 6th of May 2005.