(Higher Level Reading Piece)
Layers upon layers, strata upon strata . . Did you know you were living inside a giant quantum onion made up of multiple universes? Well, you are. Coming to study here at Loxdale every day, you are swimming through history like a time traveller!
Forget looking for the wifi for a moment, drop your phone, and help me carry this coal up from the cellar to the fireplaces in our classrooms. It’s cold, there’s no central heating, there’s hardly any electricity yet. The year is 1902, and after three years in the making Walter Mews, his wife and two sons are finally able to move into their dream home. He’s worked hard for this, running the Portslade Brewery with his brother Herbert since 1884, and each of the workers gets a couple of free pints of India Pale Ale for their trouble on moving day, just like they did for Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. Built on Locks Hill, Portslade, Walter names his new residence, Loxdale.
What room are you in? Are you on the ground floor or the first? Is there a fireplace? Lucky you! The ground and first floor were where the family and their guests could enjoy fine living in the panel rooms, the piano room and what is now the Principal’s office, while the servants were cooking and cleaning out of sight at the back, and where we now all eat lunch. See the alcove where you play piano sometimes? It’s set inside the enormous fireplace where once there was a big cooking range.
