Title
Like the phrase "the morning after the night before", to suggest facing the consequences of your previous actions. Karma, baby! Also the song "The Morning After", sung by Maureen McGovern as the closing theme to the 1972 disaster film The Poseidon Adventure. Some of the lyrics seem rather apt:

There's got to be a morning after
If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on looking for the light

There's got to be a morning after
We're moving closer to the shore
I know we'll be there by tomorrow
And we'll escape the darkness
We won't be searching anymore

Note that this is another reference to drowning and the dangers of water.

https://youtu.be/EbD7lfrsY2s

Quote
From the 1970 song "Fire and Rain" by folk singer James Taylor. The chorus is:

I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

I chose the song to fit in with rain coming after seemingly endless sunny days, and the final two lines speak for themselves. The song is also about a suicide. I must admit to rewriting the chapter "Mirror Mirror" so that Julian would see both 'fire and rain'!

Rain
After every day at the Waystation being mild and sunny, Julian is woken by a courtesy call from Bobby on the morning of his Assessment and finds that it is raining. He rings Bobby back wondering if something has gone wrong, but is reassured that it's simply a lovely rainy day, and the rain will make the parks and gardens green.

I got this idea from an anecdote about Elton John. While staying at a luxury Park Lane hotel suite in 1988, he rang his record company to complain that it was very windy outside, and demanded that they do something to fix it. As they say, cocaine is a hell of a drug. Of course Julian is much less of a diva (and not on drugs).

I was originally going to make the Waystation a place of eternal sunshine (and spotless minds, haha), because that's heavenly, right? But one warm summer evening I was taking the dog for a little stroll when it began raining very lightly.

On one side of our street (a few doors up from us) are suburban houses with green lawns out the front and on the other side is virgin bushland, and the rain immediately brought out the aroma of wet grass and flowers, coupled with a woodsy smell of eucalyptus and ferns. The cool rain on my face was refreshing, the stars twinkled above us, everything smelt clean and delightful, and I just couldn't think of anything lovelier.

Heaven would not be heavenly without rain! But yeah, the idea is also to give the reader a sense of unease, and of unusual events about to unfold.

Vintage postcard of The Inn on the Park in London, where Elton John complained about the wind.  

Afterlife Beauty

When Julian examines himself in Noel's bathroom mirror, he is pleased to notice that he looks subtly more attractive than usual, with a glow of peaceful contentment he never had on Earth. It's not just the happiness of finding his soulmate – Noel explains that simply being in the Afterlife for a few days is enough to gently smooth out little physical imperfections. But the full transformation into celestial beauty only occurs after going Forward.

Rather handily (especially for the author), Noel can tell Julian all about it, because he is considered a good candidate for going Forward by his Case Worker. Jeannie has given him lots of information about Forward, in the belief that he may very well need it after his Assessment. Julian hasn't been told any of it, because Marcus is trying to get Julian Sideways, while preparing him for going Back.

I think Julian has always been handsome or good-looking, but when I was writing this scene and describing him, I was specifically thinking of the second series of The Mighty Boosh TV show. Julian's girlfriend Julia was pregnant with their twin sons, his career was going well, and he just ... glowed. He looks radiantly sexy in almost every scene. Peak Julian!

6-6-6
The number for the combination lock on Julian's briefcase is 666, as Sophia tells him with a wicked grin. In Christian superstition, 666 is called the Number of the Beast and considered to be the "devil's number", due to a passage in Revelation. In fact, the number is 616, 666 being an error in transcription, and 'The Beast' almost certainly refers to the Emperor Caligula, not the devil.

The choice of the number seems to be a Waystation tease. There is no Hell and no Devil in this Afterlife, and they seem to be poking gentle fun at the earthly belief in them.

In numerology, 6 is the number of love and soulmates. To have three in a row might be interpreted as love on the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels, or a reminder that your soulmate is forever, whether you go Forward, Sideways, or Back.

If you add all three sixes together, you end up with 18. In numerology, 18 is called Spiritual-Material Conflict. It warns of treachery and deception, and danger from the natural elements. Its tarot card is The Moon, and when this card comes up, the querent is advised that their question cannot be answered as yet, because there is more information to be obtained. It might be wise to keep this in mind.

Julian Reality Check
Julian says he prefers showers, as he has trouble fitting into baths. Naturally Julian has trouble fitting into baths, due to his height. As more wish fulfilment for him, I got him into a bath so huge there's room for Noel as well! By the way, the bathwater is vanilla scented because it is well known as an aphrodisiac, especially for men ... 

Julian tells Noel that he has trouble relaxing and getting to sleep. In real life, he's been very open about his issues with stress, anxiety, and insomnia. Julian said he has always envied Noel for his ability to fall asleep easily.

Julian tells Noel that far from being domestic like him, he lives in unrepentant squalor. This is slightly fictionalised – Julian did say that he had a particular love for squalor, but he was referring to film aesthetics. However, a journalist who did a profile on Julian's girlfriend Julia Davis visited their home, and referred to it as 'cheerfully cluttered', which I took to be a polite way of saying it was a mess (especially since most people clean and tidy before having a journalist come to their home).

Julian tells Noel that he enjoys making things, and thinks he might be a carpenter in his next life if he goes back to Earth. In real life he said he enjoys the countryside and chopping wood, and would like to be a carpenter. He also says he likes fixing things and bringing them back to life – he carts an enormous amount of electronic stuff around with him, and this is something he really said.

Noel Reality Check
Noel thinks that Julian's adoring description of his beauty makes him sound like a unicorn. I can't count the number of times Noel has been called a unicorn, or compared to one, in real life.

Noel tells Julian that he enjoys housework, which he really does, and describes vacuuming as being very relaxing. In the story, he attributes this to being the eldest child in the family and having to help out, which makes sense to me. Noel strikes me as being a parentified child.

Boosh Reality Check
Julian says Noel is a mermaid or a merman as he kisses him, a reference to the merman he played on the TV show, in the episode, "the Legend of Old Gregg". Note that in this chapter, Julian is brought back under the water, the catalyst for his arrival at the Waystation.

After Sophia brings Noel and Julian some nice suits to wear to their Assessment, Julian looks at Noel and says, 'You look like the assistant manager at Rumbelows or something.' This is a reference to the episode "The Power of the Crimp" on The Mighty Boosh TV show, when Vince/Noel became depressed after someone copies his cool image. He decides to give up being cool and gets a job as assistant manager at Rumbelows (an electrical goods store which closed down in the mid-1990s). When we see him preparing to leave for his new job, he is dressed very much as he is in this scene, with his hair brushed flat and discreet make-up.

The suit that Julian is described wearing comes from a BBC publicity shot where Julian is wearing a suit and tie, and Noel a leather jacket and jeans.

Characters
Jacques Le Cube
The chef at the Rose and Star. We never see him, but his polite voice through the door has a slight accent, and he leaves Noel a nice note. In the "Party" episode of The Mighty Boosh TV show, Jacques Le Cube is one of Vince/Noel's 'cool' friends' that he invites. He's described as French, and being shaped like a cube. When we briefly see Jacques dancing at the party, he looks like a man with a box shape on his head, and is played by Dave Brown. It only seemed right that The Rose and Star would have a French chef, and the cube part vaguely reminded me of a stock cube.

Mr Piper and Mr Piper
The twin doormen at The Rose and Star. They are based on Jim and Jackie Piper, two henchmen for the villain The Hitcher, who is played by Noel Fielding. Jim and Jackie are portrayed by Bob Fulcher and Dave Brown in the "Hitcher" episode of The Mighty Boosh TV show. They seem to have been dropped in the subsequent series, with Noel apparently regretting their initial inclusion.

Ronald
We see Ronald again, who Julian met at the football game on Meadow Lane. Ronald remembers him when he says hello. It turns out that Ronald is the other person with a penthouse suite at The Rose and Star, and he seems to be friendly with both Margaret and Noel. Ronald is very confident about going Forward, due to being in one of the best suites at the best hotel.

Margaret
Margaret and Ronald sit across the aisle from Noel and Julian on the bus to the Assessment Centre. Of course the bus is utterly luxurious, as befits those staying at The Rose and Star. Margaret says she doesn't mind where she is sent after her Assessment, and sees her time at the Waystation as being a holiday for her soul, refreshing it so that she is ready for whatever lies ahead. We know from this that Margaret has the perfect Afterlife attitude of having no expectations, and no fears for what lies ahead. She is prepared to cheerfully accept her judgement with a humble spirit, open mind, and strength of heart.