The New House, 1973
The peace of the garden is disturbed by excited voices and the grinding of feet on the gravel side path. The gate, set in the corner of the garden, is pushed open, and three children rush through, followed by their mother carrying a toddler, then by their father. The children are all in hyper mode, and excitedly point out the things in the garden, most exciting of which is a sofa swing, which the elder brother and sister immediately sit in and start swinging manically. Their mother exclaims delightedly at them. Their father adds a mild warning to be careful and not go too high. The swing soon loses novelty and the kids jump off to look down the far end of the long garden. There is a line of garages along the end of the garden, once stables for the Victorian house, and they have faux castle crenelles along the top: “Look, a fort!”. The mother sits the toddler in the swing and grins as the baby has a gentle rock.
The father retrieves a key from his pocket and opens the back door into the kitchen. The three older children are almost clinging to his legs to be able to get inside. Once in, they charge deeper into the house, led by the older boy. The father calls after them to be careful, following them out of the kitchen, though a small dining room, then into the long thin hallway. The hallway has three steps up to the front door and bends around to the right to arrive at the foot of a steep staircase, with rooms to the right and left. The children stampede on up to the first floor, where there are two more bedrooms, a bathroom and a small toilet. The older boy goes into the toilet and trills out “Look at this Dad!”. The walls of the toilet are decorated with a collage of newspaper, covered with a glossy finish. On the ceiling is painted a huge lipstick kiss, surrounding the light fitting. All the children and the father join the boy. The younger boy stays behind as they move on, his mouth open as he stares up in wonder at the enormous, disembodied lips.