phespirit.notes:   Southampton

1 South Stoneham Hall

Futile attempts to salvage his degree course at Oxford meant that Phespirit was a late entrant to Southampton. Duly, he was stuffed into South Stoneham Hall, sharing a room with three other guys.

Phespirit was one of two sleeping on the floor.

A local television news crew actually filmed the room as the worst example of student squallor in the whole University. Cool!

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2 Montefiore Hall

After two weeks of slumming on the floor in South Stoneham Hall, Phespirit was given a room in Montefiore Hall, on the other side of Wessex Lane.

Alas, Montefiore seemed bloodlessly antisceptic in comparison to South Stoneham so Phespirit always returned to his first home for social intercourse.

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3 Pleasure Garden

Not the local knocking shop, but an excellent Chinese take away. Every Sunday night: sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice.

Buy and try from 198 Burgess Road.

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4 Southampton University

The route from the halls of residence to Highfield Road campus:

• Wessex Lane
• Woodmill Lane
• Langhorn Road
• Burgess Road
• Highfield Road

Quite a distance, and ultimately for no reward, but somehow it all seemed worthwhile at the time.

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5 Weasel's Records

In its time, surely the finest second-hand record shop in the south of England but now, alas, a victim of the demise of vinyl.

Phespirit still has a few 7" singles bearing the Weasel's stamp:

Cabaret Voltaire - "Silent Command"
Elvis Costello - "New Amsterdam EP"
The Fall - "There's A Ghost In My House" (hologram cover!)
Joe Jackson - "It's Different For Girls"
Landscape - "Einstein A Go-Go"
Bill Wyman - "(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star"

..... so mostly nostalgia stuff, even back in 1989.

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6 The Bargate

This pretty much marks the epicentre of the city of Southampton. Phespirit marks it here only as an aid for orientation.

Truth is that the city centre could be transplanted into the heart of almost any English city without noticeably altering its character.

Its a tragedy of national town planning.

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