The tomb
In February 2013 I watched a documentary that was broadcast on the telly. Someone had made a film about a man who had been trying to build the largest habitable mansion in the USA. It was modelled on some idea – some phantasy idea – about the palace at Versailles. During the film, one of the man’s maids told us about her father: he had always lived in a faraway land; she told us that he had always dreamed of living in a concrete house. She emphasised the fact that this had been his lifelong wish. But ‘it never happened.’ He did not have enough money to buy the house of his dreams. However, by way of everlasting consolation, we learned that he was buried in a concrete tomb.
[The film was made in a series called ‘Storyville‘ that was broadcast on BBC Four.]