‘Moments of Pleasure’ reminds me of my time in Hackney when we lived in a enormous flat just off Well Street in 1993.
Having come back from Leeds where I had been working at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 1993 and having nowhere to live, I moved into a flat in Hackney with my friend Ed and we lived there for a year before moving to Essex. The flat was a converted piano factory and we lived one floor down from the top floor in the biggest living space I have ever seen before or since. It had two huge bedrooms – mine had room for a double bed, a huge desk and chair a sofa, a massive wardrobe and a chest of drawers and the living room was easily 25ft by 20ft. The only odd thing was the pathetic kitchen and bathroom which were ridiculously small but that never seemed to matter at the time.
When we arrived I was busy trying to get a new agent (my previous agent and I didn’t really get on and had parted company) and get some further work as an actor. That year in Hackney was a wonderful one and Kerry came over often and best of all Ed brought his stereo, which had a very powerful amplifier and Mission speakers as well as a top class CD player. Music was very much a feature of our time there and above all we played ‘The Secrets Of the Beehive’ by David Sylvian, which has to be my absolute favourite album of all time most evenings as well as plenty of Depeche Mode.
I remember that one day I was alone in the flat and put ‘The Red Shoes’ by Kate Bush on the stereo. I recall it had been advertised on the television and the ad had a small section from ‘Moments of Pleasure’ within it and so I was keen to listen to that song having just brought it. As I played the song and listened to it, it started to snow and as we were pretty much on the top floor of the block I watched the snow falling on the courtyard beneath. Despite the fact that it was cold outside it was warm in the flat (it also had some of the biggest radiators that I had ever seen too) and I felt warm and cosy as I stood by the huge windows watching the snow fall beneath me. There is something about this song that seemed to encapsulate all I was feeling at the time and I have loved it ever since.
Listening to it now as I write this I am transported back to the living room of our flat in Hackney on that snowy day and it reminds me of that time….
Now listen to the song….
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