transition and living in the shop

Earlier in the week Barack Obama met George W Bush at the White House which from Jan 20 2009 will be his home. I want to talk about this in my post today

The white house is a tied house- like 10 downing street. this means that when you stop being the occupant of the oval office you have to move. I have a lifetime of experience in living in tied housing as my father is a minister so the house comes with job so i have never lived in a home owned by me or a member of my family.

If my experience is anything to go by living in a place of work is hard if you are the one who works you cant switch off. in the days before mobile phones in my house there were six people  who could get a phone call at any time of the day- so there was a scramble when the phone went not knowing who it was for. Also being a minister means being around when other people are free to talk to you not the other way round so dad could get phone called lateish into the evening when people were home from work and were free to talk to him- when they are relaxing dad is still at work.

Apart from having to cope with the work side of living in a in "house of work" or that its not your own is that people can put things in thats is not to your taste- if you take them down you cant sell them because they arent yours

The hardest thing about living in a tied house is leaving it. this is because in a way unlike if you sell a house you have no control over who is coming in next because other people choose. Being in a tied house can also be deceptive i mean that people think the house is yours so if its big they think you are minted and my dad isnt despite living in a 7 bedroom victorian villa.

Transition out of such an enviroment is a very strange thing. In my case the thing thats different is the lack of phone calls(cue the violin music) if i was being lazy at home and going back to bed after breakfast i would only get an extra half an hour because the phone would always ring between 9 and 10. Where as now that i am on my own i just dont get up!  my point here is that the routine will change. For example George Bush wont have to always be switched on- although sometimes it appeared that he is never switched on anyway and think about his every quote.

In Britain when the Prime Minister loses an election they go through a very tough thing- the perks go immidiately Harold Wilson knew he lost not when he was told in the papers but he lost his police outriders half way on a journey. George has got 75 days to get used to the idea  he isnt President.

So living  in the shop may have its perks - ie out of bed at 8.55 am but it does have its downsides so Barak good luck!