Spring will turn into summer before we know it!
This caught my eye last week. Right now, it’s mid-May, 2018. Summer officially begins June 21st. So they’ve got approximately five weeks till spring’s been and gone. I don’t think they’re going to make it, do you?
But think how sure the owners were when they put up that banner. So optimistic. So confident. So emphatic.
Looking at the past
The back story to the building is that it, obviously, was a very fine house at one time. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to find information about those happy beginnings as a family home. That’s because its past history is obscured by the turn it took in more recent times.
It was the site of a horrific double murder in 1980, which claimed the lives of an elderly retired doctor and his wife. Unsurprisingly it’s been known as “the murder house” ever since. And obviously, the house wasn’t exactly a des res after that. It’s been unoccupied since and has fallen into sad disrepair.
But now it seems set for a new lease of life. Or is it? The delay on this spring opening isn’t promising, is it?
Looking to the future
So, how does it serve us as a Story Starter? It’s a metaphor for lost hopes and dreams, or at least hopes and dreams that don’t go according to plan. It’s about optimism, determination, positive thinking. Perhaps disappointment. Perhaps red-tape; authority getting in the way of aspiration.
It’s about an adventurous spirit. Not only opening a restaurant but a Kurdish Middle Eastern one, what’s more. And a Shisha Bar. It may be commonplace elsewhere but it’ll be a first for Dundee!
It’s perhaps about multi-culturalism. Integration. Suspicion. Understanding and tolerance.
You might instead focus on the history of the house, of course.
I’m sure you’ll think of lots more themes and write brilliant stories to convey those themes to The People’s Friend readers. I’m anticipating something really quite different from this one. I can’t wait.
Shirley Blair Fiction Ed Shirley’s been with the “Friend” since 2007 and calls it her dream job because she gets to read fiction all day every day. Hobbies? Well, that would be reading! She also enjoys writing fiction when she has time, long walks, travel, and watching Scandi thrillers on TV.
