Monday, April 04, 2005

Chapter 2

The sun had disappeared and John was feeling the chill of the wind. He walked back along Picadilly, through Leichester Square, Trafalgar Square and into The National Gallery. He knew the permanent excibition by heart by now, so he just wondered around at random, stopping once in while, but not long enought to take anything in, not untill he got to Botticelli's Venus and Mars."Mars, god of war, was one of the lovers of Venus, goddess of love. Here Mars is asleep and unarmed, while Venus is awake and alert. The meaning of the picture is that love conquers war, or love conquers all. "Or love conquers you, John thought. Josephine had been John's Venus, as much as she had been his goddess of love and beauty. He didn't know Greek mythology that well, but he knew he was no Mars. If only. If only he had been less ignorant. If only he had been less blinded. If only he had been less in love. If only things had been different.John shook his head clear of thoughts of the past. He had to stop thinking about what could have been. He had to forget about Josephine. She was not a goddess. She was more like a vampire who sucked out all your blood, and left you for dead.John turned away from Venus and went to the Turner room and studied the "Rain, Steam, and Speed" painting from before 1844. He needed to put his life on a steamtrain and speed out. Out of what he wasn't quite sure, and out to what he was even less sure about. But out he had to get, and he knew it.Determinately he walked out of the gallery and into the cold and wet evening. It had started to rain while he was wandering around the gallery. John's T-shirt was soaked through in less than 10 minutes, but he walked all the way back to his room above the kebab shop, with the smell of old fat, cockroaches and mice. Once inside he stripped out of his wet T-shirt and jeans and wrapped himself in a big towel.With the gas boiler on full his clothes should be dry by the morning.John opened up his last tin of baked beans and ate them straight from the pan. There where clean plates in the cupboard, but with cockroaches living all over them, he he had stopped using them weeks ago. The mice had been at his last bread, which by the way was going blue in the corners. He drank 1½ liter of water to fill up. He knew it would be a short lived feeling, but he needed some sleep, and ironically he couldn't afford anything from the kebabshop, and the supermarket had closed 5 minutes before he got there.He shook the cockroaches out of his duvet, and climbed into bed. The sound of the mice running around the walls sent him to sleep.

The sun was baking and John had his eyes closed, listening to the kids playin in the surf. Life was perfect, except for the bugs that kept crawling across his face. He could hear faint knocking, and was wondering what that sound was doing in his beach paradise. Suddenly a load bang made him sit up. He was ot on a nice hot beach, but in his very hot room. The bugs crawling across his face had been cockroaches, and the knocking sound had been someone knocking on his door. He wasn't sure what the loud bang had been, but the kncking on the door persisted. "I'll be right there", he yelled towards the door. The knocking stopped. He pulled his burning hot jeans on, and struggled with the T-shirt on the way to opening the door. "Can I help?". John was looking at a young man in a suit, with a professional smile on his face, and a briefcase under his arm.The young man presented a badge. "I'm Ben, from the council. I've come to inspect your apartment?". John let him in, and listened to Ben go on about his purpose, and that he had sent a letter, and what a nice place John had, and... John had stopped listening, and justed nodded once in a while. The young man took some samples of cockroaches, did a couple of swats, and then he left, thanking John for his hospitality. Not sure what that was all about, but hoping it would get his landlord into trouble, John packed a few clothes into a bag, he picked up his toothbrush, but decided to leave it for the cockroaches which where all over it anyway. He took a look around the room, picked up his Burberry and his bag and walked out, leaving the door unlocked.It was spring, the sun was shining, but not a daffodil in sight. How did people do anymore than survive in a place like this? John took the tube to Waterloo.11:35 to Southampton Central, looked like a good train to get on. John always wanted to live by the sea, and Southampton ought to be big enough for him to be able to find a job to finance a room and basic food while he tried to reinvent his life. He waited on the concourse for the platform announcement which came 11:32; Southwest trains to Southampton Central, stopping at Woking, Winchester, Southampton Airport, and Southampton Central will depart from platform 11. John moved with, what seamed to be half the concourse, to platform 11, where a nice white shining electric train was pulling in. Gone where the days of steam and coaldust. Travelling by train in the 21st century was a clean experience. John picked a windowseat and enjoyed the cleanliness of the train. No kebabfat smell, no grimy carpets or taped up windows, and no cockroaches crawling everywhere you looked.A couple sat down across the isle, a girl came in dragging a big holdall, which she dropped in the isle, sat down next to the couple and pulled out a book. Just before the whistle went, a young lad dropped down across from John, eating a burger. John remembered he had nothing to eat since last nigths tin of baked beans. With a rumbling stomach he watched London Waterloo disappear as the train pulled out of the platform."All ok man?". It was the young lad with the burger trying to get Johns attention. "Want these?". He was holding a bag of fries towards John. John shook his head while he was struggling not to grab the fries and stuff them in his mought before the lad changed his mind. "Please, you would be doing me a favour. I am trying to get fit for running the marathon this year, so this is not what I should be eating". He dropped the fries on the table in front of John. "So where are you off to?". He didn't wait for an answer, just continued, "I'm...". John started laughing. He just couldn't stop himself. He felt releaved listening to the youngster just yapping on as if nothing really mattered. The young lad had stopped talkeng and was looking at John with a puzzled face. John stopped laughing. "Sorry. I just needed to releave the pressure. Thanks for the fries, I am starving really".The young lad's name was Tom, and him and John where chatting all the way to Southampthon Central, even though Tom was supposed to have been off at Winchester. As John got of the train Tom handed him a piece of scrap paper, "give me a call sometime!"

John walked out of the station towards the city centre. Compared to the London buzz, Southampton was a quiet seaside town, but a shopping heaven. John stopped in front of the entrance to the Job Centre in the High Street. He would come back here Monday. First he would explore the localities, find somewhere to stay and somewhere to get some food. He went into WHSmith and picked up a local newspaper and flipped to the Rooms to Let section. He scanned the prices and found a room "Near town centre with own bath" for £55 a week. He went to the nearest phonebox which accepted coins, which in these days of mobile phones and phone cards, was not easy to find, and called the number in the add. "Please leave your name and number and we will call you back". There was no point in leaving a phonebox number. The next add said "room in shared flat, £45". He wasn't sure about a shared flat but beggars can't be choosers, and it was cheap. He dialled the number and a young girl answered the phone, "Hi!". "Hi, I'm John. I'm calling in regards to the room you have to let", said John. "Oh, you need to speak to James, hold on", and the phone went dead. John waited what seemed like forever befoer James came on the line. "You're looking for a room?", Yes", "Do you want to come around and see it now?", "Where is it?". James explained how to get there by foot, and said he would put the kettle on.The house was easy to find with James's instructions, "Just look for the yellow Cincento in the drive". John rang the bell. A girl opened the door, "Hi. You must be John, I'm Jill, we spoke briefly on the phone, I'm James's girlfriend, I don't live here, so I'll just be leaving and leave you two to it, it's upstairs, see you", and Jill walked down the road. "Come on through and close the door", hollowed James from up the stairs. John closed the door behind him and walked up the stairs to be greated by an open door into what looked like a student batchelor pad. Messy but clean, and not a cockroach in sight.James popped his head out of the door into the kitchen, "do you take sugar?". "No thanks". John felt relaxed in James's company. He was glad his girlfriend hadn't hung around though. John got the guided tour on the way from the kitchen to the lounge. "bathroom", James opened a door to a blue room with a blue bathroom suite, towels everywhere. "Sorry, it's a bit messy here today, we didn't expect anyone today. And this is Matthews room, my room, Julia's room, and this will be your room. What do you think? Take a seat", said James and pointed to a sofa covered in newspapers. "It looks ok. The add said rent £45, but how about bills?", asked John. "You'll have to ask Julia when she returns, she's our accountant, works odd hours in a hotel, so she wont be back till later, but it's not much". "Provided I can afford the bills I'll take it then". "Great! Have you had dinner?", asked James as he headed for the kitchen.James threw some mixed vegatables and nudles in a wok, and what seemed like a few minutes later they had one of the best chinese meals John had ever had. As it turned out James was a great chef, and he loved cooking, but everyone in the flat lived on a small budget, which was great for John who had £127 left in his account till he got paid from the new job he didn't even have yet. Matthew came home just after 7pm, but disappeared out the door just as quick as he came in, and a couple of hours later Julia came home from a double shift. "Hi John. Nice to have you here. I'm completely beat though. Do you mind if we catch up in the morning?". James and John sat up chatting till about midnight. James had lent John a blanket, sheet and a pillow when he realised that all Johns belongings where in his bag.John lay awake listening to the unfamiliar noises for a while before he fell asleep. No more creapy crawleys.

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