I was watching the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys, and there was a scene near the end where the main characters are standing outside Philadelphia City Hall. I didn’t need to be told what it was because I recognised it. Philadelphia City Hall was the location of the meeting between Joseph and Lisa in my story A Fairytale of Philadelphia which I wrote around ten years ago. It only existed in my mind at the time, but when I saw it tonight it looked just about exactly as I imagined it.
What you have to understand, you see, is that when people write fiction – and I’m sure this must apply to most people, not just me – the story becomes an alternate reality in which they live for a few hours at a time. And there was my alternate reality revisiting me after all these years. (I looked for Lisa, believe it or not, but she wasn’t there. Then again, the real Lisa would have been a young child when the film was made, so maybe I just didn’t recognise her.) What a shame I was feeling cold and depressed when Philly came a-calling, but life’s like that sometimes.
And on the subject of being cold in my house, I’ve been watching the thermometer in my office fall day by day as the winter season asserts its supremacy, so I did a little calculation today. I have a 2kw wall-mounted panel heater in my bathroom which I’ve never used for reasons I needn’t explain. I decided to work out how much it would cost to have that heater running 24 hours a day so that I’d have a more comfortable bathroom to visit, and do you know how much it would add to my heating bill after recent cost increases? £522 a month (approx $US660). One heater, one room, £500+ every month through the winter. How rich does a person have to be to have a warm refuge these days?
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