I moved into the Golders Green bedsit on January 9th, 1983 and started my diary with 'My Life in a Shoebox' as the header on that day, comparing my situation to The L-Shaped Room.  On that first night I was horrified by the reality of my situation; a 10ft x 12ft room in the basement of a filthy old house on Finchley Road with a shared bathroom and toilet and dubious neighbours who seemed to have absolutely no respect for anyone else in the house.  The bedsit had been occupied by a Chinese guy before me and the carpet was ingrained with grease and food.  The Baby Belling hob was so disgusting that I couldn't even think about trying to clean it.  My windows were nailed shut because my French Doors opened onto a small patch of unkempt, scrubby grass and it would have been so easy to break in and steal all my precious possessions!

It was a large house in mock Tudor style and it had been divided into ten bedsits.  I don't think the common areas of the house were ever cleaned and the basement had no carpet, just painted concrete that had worn away over the years.  The room next to mine was used as an office and the room opposite mine was occupied by a very rough young couple who had nightly rows.  I remember one night hearing her scream; "No, not my teapot!" and then, smash!!!  Sadly I had to share a vile bathroom and toilet with these people.  To put it bluntly, it was pretty disgusting.

My first few weeks in the bedsit were pretty bad because I caught the flu and that turned into malnutrition.  I was sleepwalking and one night woke up outside on the grass with my foot bleeding from stepping on a piece of glass.  Fashion was the last thing on my mind.  But I had to persevere and so I painted the room white, rearranged the furniture and made the best of a bad job.  It's amazing what you can get used to when there is no alternative.

The best thing about living in Golders Green was the close proximity to the tube station and the fact that Hampstead was the next stop.  Oh Hampstead!  How I dreamed of one day being wealthy enough to live in Hampstead Village where film stars, writers and artists rubbed shoulders on the quaint cobbled streets.  The other great thing that happened was my friend Adrienne moved into a flat with her friend Rebecca just two streets away so I could pop round there anytime I liked.

My diary entry for Friday, March 11th, 1983...

I slept right through the night until my clock radio came on this morning (Abba singing Under Attack) and then I thought I'd overslept and I jumped out of bed in shock!  Georgina was off today so I was supposed to spend the day over in the studio painting fiberglass loaves to look real!  I was saved that pleasant little job by Cheryl who was short-staffed on the fashion windows so I helped her instead.  It was quite an amusing day, but I was feeling tired so I was glad when 5.00 came around.

Me & Adrienne

I bumped into Adrienne in Sainsbury's; she passed her driving test today and invited me over for tea so we went round to their flat.  Rebecca was in and we had a pasta thing to eat and we drank martinis to celebrate Adrienne's victory.  I decided that Rebecca needed a new hairstyle so I backcombed her hair and made two little plaits and then applied some wild makeup to complete the look.  Then Adrienne wanted me to do her up as well so I gelled her hair and did her face really freaky and then Adrienne made me up too!