Everything hurts, I have a cold, an allergy to movement, I've slept for a day, I think I still have mud under my eyelids and even simple tasks are taking a monumental effort. Guess I'm back from Glastonbury then. More to follow...
Mike was in full political flow, charting the decline of western civilisation and portending a none too happy future when Ian Dury's Fucking Aida came on. It's very hard to take anything seriously when one of England's greatest poets and his Blockheads are shouting "Fucking Aida" repeatedly over a drunken music hall stomp. Sometimes laughter is the only sense there is.
I had this wonderful image of the country sinking into the sea, the last bowler hatted English gentleman standing stiffly to attention, briefcase, umbrella and rolled up copy of the times gradually disappearing from view (Cap'n Jack Sparrow style) whilst Fucking Aida plays in the background.
Tunes: Ian Dury And The Blockheads: Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll
A couple of fragments of conversation from last night.
Franklin was wrong. The only thing that's certain in life is death. Not everyone gets to pay tax. If, as they say, you see your life flash before you as you die then shouldn't it be the best movie you've ever seen. Something you'd want to sit through one last time. Ups and downs, thrills and spills, love and laughter, sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll. Wouldn't it just suck if it turned out to be some terrible Ingmar Bergman movie.
In a world of shrinking inhabitable land mass and rapidly increasing population with all the necessary output to look after them, will the world one day just fill up. It would be like someone turns a corner and that'll be it. Population gridlock. Everyone will just be stuck where they are, unable to move. Neither Starfleet nor Dr Who will be able to come and save us. There'll be a big sign up in space saying "Sorry, this planet is now full, please use another planet."
It's funny what finally breaks people. Not that long ago, half an hour or so as it happens, I was sitting on Mike's boat pretty much enjoying the self-conscious quirkiness of 'A Cock And Bull Story' when this sound broke our concentration. And the movie does take a little concentration. It took a few moments to figure out that this was whom we shall call Neighbour L. Now I know she was singing. In her world at least. In truth my toes started curling and I began to feel my tuna avocado dinner return somewhat unwanted. Certainly what notes were appearing haven't been invented yet. No words, just a semi-lupine outpouring at top volume. Think of a cat trying to yowl opera whilst being put through a barbed wire mangle.
Suddenly from the other side, he whom shall be referred to as Neighbour S, was taken to an uncharacteristic bout of vocal abuse. Something along the lines of: "Just shut the fuck up will you..." repeated until the noise abated. Neighbour S is one of those folks for whom the phrase 'wouldn't say boo to a goose' might have been invented (although I don't know anyone who's ever said boo to a goose. I've had plenty of opportunities and never once even thought of it). Apparently the vocal callisthenics added just a touch too much atmosphere to the horror movie he was watching and he, for want of a better word, snapped.
I've been listening to a LOT of The Rainmakers recently. A few minutes surfing this lunchtime revealed a bunch of their videos and some live performances on You Tube. This is one of my favourite tunes from their penultimate, and sadly only fourth, studio album. It's not exactly "I wish I cared but I don't know how" but I guess even Bob had to fall in love eventually. Damn they made some shitty videos!
Trying out my new camera, a nice deal on eBay. That is until I saw a better camera for less in the PC World sale this morning. Oh well. Looks ok so far. See if stands the test of the Glastonbury fields.
I've just added my fourth blog to my roster, somewhat worrying considering I've been so poor at updating this one of late. A couple of weeks ago I dipped my toe back into Londonist waters and now I have my very own work blog so you can keep up to date with all the fun things I do here at the office. "Woo hoo" I hear you all scream. Remember to set all your bookmarks or RSS feeds if you're more of a web 2.0 kinda reader.
Added to 'Ducks and my somewhat poorly maintained music blog, Hyena, that's a lot of writing to keep up with. Londonist I'm going to continue to dip into for the moment to see how thing's progress. The OR blog at least I can do at work. Ducks and Hyena I'm going to try to concentrate on a little more from now on. I might even get around to putting some more of my pictures up on flickr, especially now I've replaced my malfunctioning digital camera.
