Serrano Girls

Despite being technically old and married, in many ways living here makes me feel younger than I have done in years. A couple of years ago, sharing a flat with a friend in south London, I felt awfully grown-up and yuppie. We had our full-time jobs, videophone entry system and remote-controlled parking garage. We nodded to our neighbours, but we never knew them. Other than the fact that they were all young and upwardly mobile, I knew nothing about any of the people who lived in my building.

Here things are different. The Serrano compound is made up of four two-bedroomed appartments, managed by a crazy lady who charges cheap rent but doesn't really care whether or not the heating system is poisoning you. Here I am woken in the morning by Jessie from downstairs wanting to borrow a dress to wear on a date tonight. While Scott was away last week she spent every evening in our appartment borrowing Scott's computer and teaching me final cut pro while we drank wine and gossiped. Here Lauren from downstairs diagonal will provide wine, cigarettes and sympathy any evening I'm feeling down, and she knows she can leave her 5-year old son with me if she needs to run an errand. Here, if you ever need a listening ear, there is always someone who will not only oblige, but who already knows the backstory.

The Serrano girls are a special breed. It's like being back at university - no-one has a proper job or a proper schedule, the nights are late and there's always gossip to be had. I'd almost forgotten in the past 5 years how good it was to have a girlfriend ten seconds away from you that you could call on any time. I've missed it.

L.A. as a whole is NOT like this - I've met more people I actively dislike in the few months living here than I ever have in my life. But I've been lucky - this appartment has provided me with in-built friends and community who I would've loved to be friends with even had they lived far away. Sometimes I think i focus too much on all the negatives of living here, and don't appreciate the beauty of the little community I live in. The city may still suck me dry, but the girls are here to look after me.

This is sappy. And probably badly typed. But dammit, I'm happy for once (if a little drunk). I guess I can always rewrite this tomorrow. I feel I should be making some salient point about eveything but really, truthfully, I'm just glad to have found such lovely friends living right below me...