The Pimlico Paveliev

Created by bernardgibbes 10 years ago
Hello. I am Juliet's brother Bernard. Juliet was always a year older than me. At one point, my big sister was twice my age. This was tough to deal with at the time. Once I had gotten used to it, I had almost caught-up. Funny how we perceive things as being much mightier in the grand scheme of things than they prove to be. Especially at that age. But it's probably a big part of what allows our imaginations to be so much more without boundaries when we are still young enough to prefer Tom & Jerry to Match Of The Day. Most of what I remember about Juliet was from my younger years. I sodded-off to The States in the mid 90's, and trips to the UK for me have only been occasional since. I was daft enough to think it was important not to visit too often, so I would still find the old town to be alluring. Juliet had a gift. She always knew when to call. And she always seemed to call me when I wasn't in a particularly good mood. But I always welcomed her calls because it was a good distraction, and by the end of the conversation, I would invariably be in a better mood. On the whole, I don't care much for the phone, but Juliet made phone calls make sense. Juliet was generous too. Juliet had just started a new job one week in March 1983. She knew I was going to see Thin Lizzy at the Hammersmith Odeon that weekend, but because the cost of ticket had left me without enough change to buy the new album too, Juliet bought me the (double) LP - with her first pay check. When I told her I would pay her back, she looked at me and blew a raspberry. Juliet even sat and listened to all four sides of the album with me. Juliet's pets had character. And when people say 'pets take after their owners' (or 'butlers' in the case of cats) you could believe it with Juliet's feline friends. One of Juliet's cats was called Bumble. This cat had the markings of a panda, and was effectively the Don Corleone of the cats in Pimlico. Juliet's other cat at the time was called Luke. Luke was Bumble's body guard, despite the fact he was terrified of anything bigger than a dust-mite's belly-button. When you knocked at Juliet's front door in Gloucester Street, you had to negotiate with Bumble and Luke before you could enter. In many ways, Juliet was rather unconventional - often in ways which made me envy her. People like Juliet make the world go 'round. Since last Christmas, not having my big sister around has been tough. My guess is - if ever I get used to it, I will have almost (if not entirely) caught up with her.