Charlotte looks after guests in the day, Simon at night, where the often-raucous (but non-compulsory) communal dinners provide a wonderful way of making friends and picking up the local gossip.
BillyMills again: It's interesting that the Spanish chapter, which is not at all about flying, is the climax of the book; his experience of war seems to have moved his position a bit away from the solitary and towards the communal, and that is evidenced by the sheer number of other people who inhabit, indeed dominate, that chapter.
The rooms are comfortable, if a little bland, but the communal areas – the open-fronted dining room, cosy bar and sitting rooms – are all welcoming and delightfully furnished.
And another example of the perils of futurology is that the television conferences I attended at the turn of the Millennium all declared with unstoppable confidence that the idea of TV as a shared, communal experience was doomed, as technology permitted viewers to choose what and when they watched.
Fears of communal tensions in the aftermath of the attack proved baseless and security officials and Muslim leaders in Mumbai say relations between faith communities remain good despite the unexpected success of a vocal political party representing Muslims at recent state elections.
There was not a lot of communal repartee between those guys for all the world to see and follow.
Though communal living has its downsides – Linda Grant writes about the pretentious political dogma and macrobiotic obsessions of a hippy commune in her novel We Had It So Good, while what went on in RD Laing's living experiments was altogether more disturbing – I'm convinced that witnessing how resources, material and intellectual, could be pooled at such a young age has shaped me as an adult.
For Alex Salmond, such moments of communal nationalism must stir a mixture of admiration and deep frustration.
Many of the monastery's original features remain, including the stained-glass windows in the old chapel - now the communal eating area and bar.
You can mingle with others in lounge rooms overlooking the water – complete with wine supply, wood-fuelled fire and board games – and over dinner, where there is communal dining in the nearby lake house.
But from his early teens, Sam was an uncooperative participant in the communal programme.
