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ANDY BASSETTBRIEF ENCOUNTERPerceptive readers of this column may have picked up hints that I am a bit of aDavid Bowie fan. My penchant for dressing up as Ziggy Stardust at the slightestprovocation might have provided a subtle clue towards this. So the staging ofa massive exhibition about Bowie at the Victoria & Albert Museum in Londonthis year had some influence on my decision to book a trip to the UK in July.Image: V&A at the V&A (with DB). Andy Bassett and Vanessa McLellan, on separate holidaysin the UK, met up at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London for the David Bowie exhibition.Apartment Rentals | Immigration Advisory | Settlement ServicesExecutive Living specialises in apartmentrentals in New Plymouth offering an exclusiveportfolio of quality, furnished and servicedaccommodation for short or long term tenancies.The majority of Executive Living’s clients areinternationals working in the oil & gas industry.Recently the operation has expanded offeringimmigration assistance by IAA Licensed ImmigrationAdvisers for oil & gas executives.Our specialty is assisting individuals with essential skillsto perform a specifi c job or project in New Zealand, inobtaining a work visa. We also work closely with theNew Zealand employer regarding their obligations forthe visa application.Executive Living’s consultants offer qualifi ed adviceon the best way forward, interpret the ever-changinglaws, coordinate with the employer, the applicant (theiraccompanying partner & family members if required)and liaise with Immigration New Zealand to ensurethe application is lodged correctly and processed in thefastest possible time.Full residency advice is also available.For more information please contactCaroline Peri – details below.Caroline PeriDIRECTOR & HOSTM 0277 340 245E caroline@executiveliving.net.nzwww.executiveliving.net.nzHaving read that it was the museum’s most popular exhibitionever, top priority upon my arrival in London was to head downto the V&A and queue for tickets. An hour later I had twotickets in my sweaty palm for the following Tuesday, when myfriend Vanessa, also from New Plymouth, was going to be inLondon too – we would be V&A at the V&A. We turned up 15minutes before the museum opened and, at 10:00 on the dot,sprinted through the doors, across the vast hall and straightinto the exhibition.It was Bowie heaven. I was especially moved to see all theZiggy Stardust costumes on display. The colourful quiltedjumpsuit he wore the first time I set eyes on him, performing“Starman” on Top of the Pops in 1972; the pale blue suit fromthe “Life on Mars” video; the slightly worrying knitted onepiecewith one sleeve and one leg. Standing a metre or so awayfrom mannequins wearing Bowie’s clothing, I was remindedof the occasion, 29 years earlier, almost to the day, when, for aminute or two, I had stood as close to the man himself.The encounter will have been considerably less memorablefor him than it was for me. I’m sure he forgot it altogetherwithin a few years. OK, minutes. I was working in a bookshopon Piccadilly and was out the back when my girlfriend who, byremarkable coincidence, also worked there, appeared, whiteas a sheet and muttering “David Bowie.” She dragged me tothe poster counter, where a tall, slim figure stood surveyingthe shop. He turned himself to face me and, sure enough, itwas David Bowie. He began reeling off book titles – RobertsonDavies’ Deptford Trilogy; Setting The World on Fire, by AngusWilson. I took my protein pills and put my helmet on. Well,actually I just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights,as my brain screamed “My God, it’s David Bowie!!!”I managed to gather myself enough to splutter that we wereout of these particular items and each of the subsequent titleshe threw at me. By this time my brain had found somethingelse to scream. Since my teenage days, I had always thoughtthat if I ever met David Bowie, I would look at those amazingeyes of his, with the left pupil paralysed open. And given morethan ten seconds’ notice, I probably would have. But in theevent I forgot, in the shock of seeing what bloody awful teethhe had. I knew they would be crammed in and crooked butdidn’t expect them to be grey. Real smoker’s teeth.Eventually, realising he wasn’t going to find any of the bookshe wanted here, he thanked me politely and left.For the rest of that day I was a mess, dropping things,stammering, distracted, wired like I’d had three cups ofcoffee. I had to work late that night, sitting in the basement,processing returns. Pulling a stack of paperbacks out of a box,one title caught my eye and my heart sank. Angus Wilson –Setting The World On Fire.Bugger!62 I LIVE MAGAZINE I SPRING 2013