March 29, 2012

David talked recently about hearing Arabella Weir sing around the flat they shared but never dancing! Here is a great description of their time together from an interview he gave in The Independent on April 30, 2000.

"When I moved down I was a young 22, and Arabella used to shock me with the things she would say, but she finds it harder to shock me now. She probably corrupted me, but I probably needed corrupting a little bit.

Arry's not an easy person to live with, and there were times when we nearly murdered each other - I'm sure she'll say the same about me. She has "areas of issue", rules about what goes where, which knife you use for cutting the bread and which you don't. She will freely admit that she's anally retentive to the point of bonkersdom. There was a dishwasher that we were never allowed to use, goodness knows why, and she used to have a thing about never putting the heating on. She has eased up over the years, but we used to live in near-freezing temperatures. Of course, the fact that I was from Scotland delighted her because she thought, "Oh well, you're used to it, you'll be fine," so that was a particular point of conflict.

There were other lodgers who passed through and Arabella's boyfriend eventually moved in, but I was the only constant. I did stick with it for quite a long time - but then, the rent was cheap."