A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

Bus from Brunswick Square to North Street
Crowds heaving
Night buzzing
Still hot
Young people
Undercurrent of violence
Pissed women wearing little
Pissed men on the pull
We find a table
Sit with pints
Too loud to talk
Unless you shout
All around the question is asked:
“Where‟s the good time?”
(l.3:175ff.)
From around 2pm during the glorious late July afternoon, around forty guests made up of
family and friends - older people, children and teenagers, disabled friends and colleagues,
non-disabled friends from back in the days in the early 80s when you could rent a room in
Tottenham for £6 a week – turned up for Brian‟s 50 th birthday party. This took place
outdoors in a park near his Hove flat. There were camping chairs, rugs, blankets and a
fabulous spread laid out: sandwiches, grapes, strawberries, sausage rolls, pork pies,
tomatoes, pizza, crisps, bottled beers, fruit scones, fancy cakes, cucumber slices, mini
sausages, chiplets. Old friends were greeted, presents and cards given, and a birthday cake
was produced with fifty candles for Brian to blow out while everybody sang „Happy
birthday‟. The portable c.d. player belted out Ian Dury, and later Sinead O‟Connor.
Speaking about the party afterwards, Brian recalled:
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