Day 9 in the Big Sister House

Socialising in the house is generally undertaken after 5pm. This, the housemates have agreed, is when the day starts to feel normal; when it feels acceptable to sit and drink and watch films; when they should be in the house. At this time, they can pretend that they have come home from a busy day at work, as opposed to the reality of their sunlight hours (recorded below):

Jodie claimed to have attempted daytime socialising but found that behind each of the bedroom doors she knocked lay a person sleeping. Mia, who previously held the concept of napping in disdain verging on disgust, finally succumbed to its dark charms (not a fortuitous sign). Naomi eclipsed this development however, by ambitiously undertaking not one, but four naps. The housemates have not ascertained whether Buddleia did in fact nap today. Though she is a prominent advocate for the afternoon siesta and pre-pandemic often favoured one, on this day she was the most conspicuously active of the housemates, toiling in the garden into the wee small hours (of the evening, so round 5/6pm).

The main discussion points of the evening were catalysed by the choosing of a film. This proved difficult, as it became evident that what Mia interpreted comedy to mean (a rom com featuring Reese Witherspoon or Ocean’s 11) was quite different to what Buddleia had envisioned (a continuation of the dark comedy season of the week). A case was made that there should be one night off from watching BFI player ‘comedies’ (almost always in French and always involving disturbing acts of sex). A compromise was reached with ‘Intolerable Cruelty’ - involving George Clooney but directed by the slightly artier Coen Brothers. Cruelly, this was not to be the end to the tension in the house, as the film viewing was accompanied by hecklings from one housemate that believes Catherine Zeta Jones to be a ‘witch’ with a ‘dodgy hairline’ who she ‘wouldn’t look twice at in the street’.