The Tragedy of Juliet...

The woe of Juliet

Sometimes, she felt like she was cursed with the name of Juliet; perhaps doomed would be another appropriate word. In Shakespeare's great classic dear Juliet falls in love with Romeo, only to die at the end. Finishing with the line:

"For never was a story of more woe,
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo"

Yep, that was her life: full of bloody woe. And so Juliet Eloise Freya Street found herself lying on a hospital bed in an very busy A&E Dept. Occasionally she could hear people around her but didn't know who they were or where she was. She had heard Katie before she passed out near her house but nothing after that. She wondered if she'd died.

Was she in heaven?
If so, God better invest in better mattresses, this wasn't the most comfortable. Perhaps she was in hell, the uncomfortable bed would make sense then.

She'd never been brought up in a religious family or attended a church; unless for the usual 'match, hatch & dispatch' ceremonies!! Or for those not familiar with the term: weddings, christenings & funerals. Her little Irish granny always used the first term and it stuck with her; she felt it was more appropriate anyway!

So not heaven or hell- what's left? Well, she knew she'd certainly not reached Nirvana; not with some of her antics in her life! Oh come on, you only live once!! Actually, nope- if you believed in Nirvana then the quandary of reincarnation came in; so that was screwed too.

Ok, her grandparents on her mother's side weren't Christians, much to her Dad's parents anguish! They were Irish Catholic immigrants who'd moved to Manchester for better work prospects and a better life for their children. Well that had worked well for her dad Donal Street
(hey now- don't get distracted into reality here and start thinking of the Indie Producer Stephen Street!, you see the author came up with Juliet's name first!! I know -but seriously what can you do these days! )

He'd had a normal upbringing in a working class family, older sister. He'd started as a sound engineer and then producer, working with unknown bands such as The Smiths. Things took off then and well Juliet was quite simply- born into the industry. No seriously, she was actually born in the Studio when they were recording Meat Is Murder. And so, Johnny Marr was the first to hold her and Morrissey became her godfather!

So back to Don's in-laws, they were pretty far away from his strict Catholic working class background. He'd met a stunning student called Jóhanna; she was actually a catwalk model spending time working in London & Paris. They'd fallen in love and the rest , as the cliche says is history.

She came from a extremely wealthy Icelandic family, with an older sister Anna- who sadly died from Cancer years before we start our story. Her family were laidback and very bohemian. Juliet's grandmother had been a bit of an IT girl in the 60's and hung out with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones & Warhol at The Factory in New York . Getting stoned and spaced out with the young & beautiful in either LA or London. She was a model and married a suave Icelandic man who was self made in Investments and Art.

Juliet's mother was an international model who was never cut out to be a mother- something than was plainly obvious to anyone who visited their home but she had refused a nanny for her two children; Jude & Juliet; Jude being the older brother by 2 years.

Needless to say Juliet was born into a world of Indie music, beautiful people, drugs, overdoses and excess!!

So, where were we? Ah yes, Juliet pondering if she'd hit heaven or hell. Well, she'd actually reached neither! But a junior dr on Friday night in any London A&E dept would disagree about the hell part!

But here she was, finding herself slipping away from the reality as she saw it and into a strange induced sleep state. The Dr's had actually heavily sedated her to try and prevent or minimise potential damage to her organs and brain during the time her heart had stopped due to blood loss.