A few miles away, in Midland Beach, a young man from Montenegro came home the day after the storm to caved-in walls, a wood floor that squished under his weight, and mud that spattered every surface of his apartment within a foot and a half of the ceiling.
Approximately one half of the ceiling was covered with a sheet of plywood to provide shade and shelter from weather.
At some point in the last few years, I lost a bolt that secured one of the two big springs in my drop-down attic ladder, leaving one corner sagging about a half-inch from the ceiling.
Half of the mattress should be on the floor and half rising vertically toward the ceiling so that it resembles a super tall couch at the foot of your bed.
Here comes the chef, his toque covering half the distance to the ceiling, his manner so lavishly courteous it flirts with burlesque.
(When one actor was lodged in the ground in its 2008 production of "Blasted," which also featured Ms. Ireland, his lower half was dangling through the ceiling of a dressing room downstairs).
The band lived in caravans, as the mansion was in a state of disrepair; Yorke described it as "derelict in the stricter sense of the word, where there's holes in the floor, rain coming through the ceilings, half the window panes missing.
There were a half-dozen leaks in the ceiling, but those would have probably helped if the classroom had ever caught on fire.
And to create a secluded alcove (a small study, perhaps) all it takes is a six-foot bookcase, slightly more than half the height of the ceiling, to screen in a secluded spot completely.
