Shabby-chic chandeliers have been replaced by light fixtures that celebrate the bare bulb, and foxed mirrors over mantelpieces taken down in favour of utilitarian or abstract light-up signs – "LIVE" in neon, say, or "LUNCHEONETTE" in retro fairground bulbs.
When I used to picture the "grown-up" future that lay in store for me — golden retriever, marriage, kids (precisely in that order) — she was always a fixture in it, celebrating life's glorious moments with me and bolstering me during the tougher times.
The first fixture has been organised to celebrate Nelson Mandela Day, and will feature a half-strength United squad – without the players who featured at Euro 2012 – and the rehabilitating defenders Nemanja Vidic, Chris Smalling and Johnny Evans.
Continuing on with our paragraph: The silver Christmas garland around the banisters was pretty much a permanent fixture; the same birthday steamers celebrated three shoe-sizes of birthdays, eventually lost their color, and seemed to peel off the walls on their own accord.
Since then, she has become a fixture, recognized by local residents and celebrating many of their lives in song.
Wales famously lost in Chisinau in 1994 when Moldova celebrated their first competitive fixture as an independent nation following the break-up of the old Soviet Union.
West Bromwich Albion have waited for 32 years to celebrate victory in this fixture and it will not take long for Manchester United to work out how that run came to an end.
The Rugby Park side had also hoped to have a home fixture on Saturday 25 April to celebrate the 50th anniversary of winning the league championship in the 1964/65 season, but say it was turned down without an explanation.
Back then, if there was an occasion to celebrate, the beloved Civic Center fixture, drenched in sunlight by day and a honeyed glow by night, was where I always wanted to raise a glass.
Young, Juilliard-trained and already celebrated, he's become a fixture not only in concert halls but in the world of electronica as well.
