Monday, July 12
The Girl From Ian Curtis' Grave
I first met The Girl From Ian Curtis Grave on May 18th 2001 at Macclesfield Crematorium. The date was significant as it was the 21st anniversary of Ian Curtis' death and I had gone there on some kind of pilgrimage or something...I dunno.
Anyway, when I first saw her she was placing rose on the small memorial plaque (he doesn't have a gravestone, it would probably get nicked if he did). I didn't speak to her at first and she walked off, but I later bumped into her in town and we ended up adjourning to a nearby dingy pub and having the most intense three hour conversation i've ever had.
We exchanged details and ever since have had this kind of bizarre arrangement of speaking to each other on the phone twice a year (spring and autumn) and meeting up sometime in the summer. We never email and I’m not even sure if she has an email address.
The Girl From Ian Curtis' Grave is easily the most serious person I’ve ever met. She'll analyse and dissect everything from 19th century Russian literature to salt and pepper shakers in pubs. She hasn't got much of a sense of humour, but when it does surface, it's usually about something gruesome like a particularly grisly death.
Now I know what you are thinking, but the Girl From Ian Curtis’ Grave is NOT A GOTH! I know the first rule of being a Goth is denying that you are one, but she doesn't - instead she just looks at you with some kind of thinly veiled contempt and mutters something about how people shouldn't be categorised or something.
Now the thing is, I’m not attracted to this girl, nor do I have any great wish to become friends with her I don't think and I don’t know if she has a boyfriend or anything about her romantic history. I’m not even sure if she is a very nice person really...so why I am I maintaining this bi-annual telephone conversation / annual meeting arrangement?
The reason I mention this is that this weekend I almost gave her a call and asked her if she fancied going out for a drink while I was in Manchester - as she lives up that way. However, we have already had our annual face to face encounter in late May - a little early this year, but hey, it was sunny.....
In the end I didn't - I shudder to think what might happen if I break our little unwritten code, but I was wondering if she has this kind of relationship with any other blokes or indeed women?
Maybe she is married to a really stupid bloke, so she has affairs for intellectual conversation instead of sex...
Who knows? What I do know is that The girl From Ian Curtis' Grave remains an enigma for the time being, and maybe that is the way it should stay.
I first met The Girl From Ian Curtis Grave on May 18th 2001 at Macclesfield Crematorium. The date was significant as it was the 21st anniversary of Ian Curtis' death and I had gone there on some kind of pilgrimage or something...I dunno.
Anyway, when I first saw her she was placing rose on the small memorial plaque (he doesn't have a gravestone, it would probably get nicked if he did). I didn't speak to her at first and she walked off, but I later bumped into her in town and we ended up adjourning to a nearby dingy pub and having the most intense three hour conversation i've ever had.
We exchanged details and ever since have had this kind of bizarre arrangement of speaking to each other on the phone twice a year (spring and autumn) and meeting up sometime in the summer. We never email and I’m not even sure if she has an email address.
The Girl From Ian Curtis' Grave is easily the most serious person I’ve ever met. She'll analyse and dissect everything from 19th century Russian literature to salt and pepper shakers in pubs. She hasn't got much of a sense of humour, but when it does surface, it's usually about something gruesome like a particularly grisly death.
Now I know what you are thinking, but the Girl From Ian Curtis’ Grave is NOT A GOTH! I know the first rule of being a Goth is denying that you are one, but she doesn't - instead she just looks at you with some kind of thinly veiled contempt and mutters something about how people shouldn't be categorised or something.
Now the thing is, I’m not attracted to this girl, nor do I have any great wish to become friends with her I don't think and I don’t know if she has a boyfriend or anything about her romantic history. I’m not even sure if she is a very nice person really...so why I am I maintaining this bi-annual telephone conversation / annual meeting arrangement?
The reason I mention this is that this weekend I almost gave her a call and asked her if she fancied going out for a drink while I was in Manchester - as she lives up that way. However, we have already had our annual face to face encounter in late May - a little early this year, but hey, it was sunny.....
In the end I didn't - I shudder to think what might happen if I break our little unwritten code, but I was wondering if she has this kind of relationship with any other blokes or indeed women?
Maybe she is married to a really stupid bloke, so she has affairs for intellectual conversation instead of sex...
Who knows? What I do know is that The girl From Ian Curtis' Grave remains an enigma for the time being, and maybe that is the way it should stay.
