Things I love about my house....Part 3

THE WEST WING DVDS

In the September of 2005 I returned to Manchester to being my Masters degree. At the time I had a thousand things running through my head, one of the main ones being fear.

The primary source of my fear?

I was moving into Halls of Residence for the first time since my first year at uni. That first year hadn't been too bad, I met people that I'm still good friends with now, but there were some freaks. And that's putting it mildly. So I entered new home with a certain sense of trepidation...

Luckily I was fine. I was the first person in the flat. Hurrah. I could stake the place out and settle down to wait for my first housemate.

I met my first housemate early the next morning. Because I was the only one in the flat I decided to put the chain on the door. And didn't take it off when I woke up. I woke up to the flat door banging noisily, it was my flatmate.

And he was American.

He went down the stairs and I got on the phone to my Mum. "Oh my god I have an American living with me" I whispered urgently down the phone. "Oooooooh" came Mum's reply. Much the same as if I'd told her I was living with a unicorn.

I couldn't think about it, I had a busy day ahead of me so off I toddled.

I met my next housemate later that evening. As I was coming up the stairs I was confronted with a large Primark quilt with a pair of legs behind it. It was my next housemate.

She was American.

I panicked. But my fears were soon allayed. I can't remember how it happened but they ended up outside my door and we talked for like an hour. I have no idea why it never occured to us to go downstairs in to the lounge or why I didn't invite them in to my room. We covered a range of topics, including baseball I believe. I decided they weren't so bad.

I was wrong.

It wasn't that they weren't so bad. They were absolutely bloody brilliant. (see what I did there?!)

For the next year there were plenty of nights out, but there were also a hell of a lot of nights in. Nights spend sat in the lounge, eating crisps and drinking beer/wine or multiple cups of tea and watching tv and DVDs.

The West Wing formed a staple part of our DVD diet (see I got around to it eventually!). I'd become hooked on it when it first came on TV but the second series coincided with my 1st year at uni and I never got around to watching it and then Channel 4 started buggering around with the schedule so that it would disappear and reappear in random time slots on different days. So I began getting the DVDs when they went on sale (I liked it but not enough to spend £70 per series on it!).

We watched The West Wing morning, noon and night. We worked our way through from beginning to almost the end (I didn't get series 7 until I'd left Manchester and had to watch that on my own). Sometimes we'd watch one episode. Sometimes 4 in a row. Sometimes you'd come in and watch a bit of one and then leave and come back later and watch some more.

So not only do I love the show itself (I'm currently making the boyfriend watch it) but it is a reminder of one of the best years of my life and of my American friends who I last saw in April 2008.

Can you even begin to comprehend my excitement yesterday when I found out that they're coming to England? Can you? CAN YOU?!

The countdown begins...

(why yes, I was bored at work today)