Yesterday, I ran into a chap doing an inspection of the flat next door, as my previous neighbours had apparently moved out. I didn't at the time get a chance to actually see the other flat, which then made me tremendously curious as to what it must be like in there. So this afternoon, when I heard the moving guys coming up and down the stairs, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to step out and say hello (and get a chance to see the other flat, as I've always wondered how it compares to mine!)
OMG, my place is sooooooo much nicer! It turns out that inside the door to the flat, instead of leading directly into the studio room (as it does in my flat), it instead leads to a small landing area, with the bathroom off to the left. And unlike my super-spacious bathroom, it's actually only as big as is actually needed for a toilet, sink and shower, and with no windows besides (very claustrophobic!)
Then the flat itself is dark, since we're on the top floor and at the front of the building the roof angles in. There is only one window in the middle of the room, and since it's a dormer (due to the angled roof), the light doesn't really reach the sides of the room. So when you come in, the kitchen is on your left as part of the main room (not a separate room like it is in my flat), and is very dark due to the lack of natural light reaching it. Then the middle of the room (in the dormer section) has the couch and coffee table, while the right-hand side of the room is pretty much entirely turned over to the bed. Admittedly, it probably looked tiny because the guy had just moved in, and there were boxes everywhere, so it made the space look crowded.
My new neighbours are apparently an Italian guy and his girlfriend, although the girlfriend wasn't there as she was sick that day. To me, that seems a pretty big test of a relationship, to live in a studio flat with your significant other, but I suppose some people are okay in a tiny space! (Hey, I did survive a month with the Young Dutchman in my flat quite nicely, although we did have more space overall, I think). The guy's English wasn't great, but all we did was really say hello (and I immediately forgot his name...d'oh!)
In the evening, I dashed out after my conference call, making it to the front of White's just in time for the evening tour that was scheduled before our Inter-Club Committee meeting. It was a good little hour tour, although we stayed entirely to the outside of buildings, just observing the architecture and learning about the history of each club. Fascinating stuff, such as that at one point there were 250 different clubs active in Clubland, whereas now we're down to about 50. And realising how clubs had thrived for years based on men passing down membership to their sons, but after World War I, that stopped. (I guess everyone had lost their sons in the wars). And so in the 1960's and 70's, all of the existing members were dying, and rising property values meant that many club members couldn't resist the temptation to sell out (since the clubs were all owned collectively by their members). So now, through consolidation and rising Younger Member enrolments, clubs are back on the rise (many also came back into vogue in the 1980's with the amount of money that was circulating), although I doubt we'll ever see the popularity that they once had ever again.
After we finished the tour, we went to the Reform Club for the meeting, which was really neat as I'd never been to the Reform before, and I have to say it was an absolutely stunningly beautiful club. I mean, they're all nice places, but this one particularly so.
We got through the meeting, which was a mix of practical matters and history of Inter-Club, which was really interesting. I did have to arch an eyebrow when the guy who was leading the tour told me that there was going to be a £13 charge for everyone to go on the tour to be added to the cost of lunch, and then he had the cheek to suggest that he might eat for free. Ummm...yeah, I don't think so. I'm just going to be grateful if I manage to bring this whole thing in for under £50. What on earth is he going to be spending the £13 per person on, I wonder?
After the meeting was over, I found myself chatting with the Young Scotsman for a bit (as he is the representative of his own club), and took some delight in how he told me that I was looking lovely, although was then annoyed as the crowd shifted locations, I got pulled away from him and put into conversation with a chap from the Lansdowne and the (Former) Head of Inter-Club. I mean, I like them both, but not as much as the Young Scotsman, really...
Before too long, we were called in for dinner, at which point I hoped I might find myself with the Young Scotsman, but as the group organised for dinner, I found myself shuffled around (with only three girls in the group, we were distributed around the table), and I unfortunately ended up at the most boring end of the table, far away from the Young Scotsman or even anyone remotely interesting. {Sigh!}
Still, it was a fun dinner, and I did enjoy hearing the stories about some of the scandals that have taken place at the other clubs throughout the years. Made our little issues at our club seem trivial by comparison! I definitely think the all-male clubs get into their fair share of troubles... And the boys entirely seemed to forget that there were women present (we were outnumbered about 5-to-1), and so it was one of those fascinating evenings of being a fly on the wall as the boys talked about all of the things that boys *really* talk about when girls aren't around. Terrible, but utterly intriguing all the same.
For instance, a popular topic of conversation was how you can tell when a girl is 16, and when you're allowed to sleep with her, which got input from the lawyers of the group and some humorous stories of personal experience and near misses. Quite funny, as when I related this to the Tall South African the next morning, he confirmed it had been a "real boys conversation" by saying, "That's exactly what I was talking about with my friends last night!" It just cracked me up. Who knew this is what really goes through men's minds?
Finally at the end of the evening, the Young Scotsman and the (Former) Head of Inter-Club left early together (given that they are flatmates, this makes sense), and we all departed as well soon after. I had to say, it was all quite an unexpectedly enjoyable evening, I'm so glad I went!
And then as an extra bonus, when I got to my flat as I came home, I found myself entering the door at the same time as one of my neighbours. It really seemed to be quite the day for meeting the neighbours! Rather cute young man, although with an incredibly thick accent. Still, seemed nice, and we did share a little joke about the time he'd locked himself out of his flat in his underwear and had to go knock on the door of one of the other tenants. Very funny. So a nice little discovery of one more of the nice people in my building!
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