Just a quick post from the back-up café this afternoon. I’m composing this at 16:40hrs.
There was an earlier 10-minute audio post today as I experiment with this page which you may or may not have already listened to. I don’t mind that gorilla-recording. I have been thinking recently, given how little I’m enjoying any of what I’m doing bar the writing, how much I miss live radio and am looking at some live radio opportunities. I need to find the joy in something.
I’m shortly making my way to Angel for tonight’s gig. The blue skies are definitely helping. I need them. My uncle is very unwell today. **** me, this is proving hard to deal with but creatively, I think I’m finding ways to contain the sadness of the situation. I think it’s important to remember people who have been a big positive in your life and this man has never done anything but help me. He’s a good man, a fine example to all, not something I necessarily saw from my dad, and I’m enormously grateful to have had him in my life.
In other news, you might be interested in this book by south London writer and film maker Francis Isaac, just out, which I edited earlier this year. You can get it here: bit.ly/3KLmSQj
If you enjoy it, please give it a good review. We indie creators need these and all too often, we don’t get them. Reviews help get our work to a wider audience and at this level are arguably more important than making the odd sale.
Writers, if you need an editor to proof your book, please email me. I’m a voracious reader, getting through three books a week and being super-anal, I have a keen eye for typos.
On the exercise front, I ran out of time to hit today’s targeted 14k run but still registered a fairly comfortable 10.5k.
Monday Run1kerr action
I hadn’t planned on tackling the park’s worst climb today but as I did my circuit at the start, I saw one of my neighbours in the park. Had I continued with the circuit that was planned, they would’ve seen me again, and I would’ve had to acknowledge them once more, I’m guessing. With that being the case, I took a right, did that horrible climb and then turned back to complete the circuits, by which time my neighbour had disappeared, and then made north.
As I reached my third climb, I was overtaken by a younger couple, comfortably tucking in behind the girl as her boyfriend led what looked like a very small park run.
As we reached one of the bridges by the pond, the couple finished their run and a credit card fell out of the back pocket of the girl’s leggings. Mindful they’d both had more in their legs than me on that climb, I didn’t want to engage with them and alert them to the card. I could just visualise them talking later: “It was nice of that slow, middle-aged guy to alert me to the card.”
I instead hoped she’d realise she’d lost her card, and I took my usual right to come off the bridge.
But the moment was playing on my mind. I thought, ‘If I’m going to do something good today, run back, see if she’s picked up the card or if it’s still on the ground (I had hand gel on me so worst case scenario, I could’ve picked up the card) and if they’re still there, let them know or run in the direction they went in, and I’d soon track them down.’ Having had problems with my bank card over Christmas, I more than anyone knew the difficulties of sorting out and waiting for a new card to arrive.
As I returned to the bridge, another young couple (They’re all ****ing young to me now) had found the card and credit to the guy, he was on his phone about to report it lost. I pointed out the girl whose card it was, who by now was panicking, having realised she’d lost the card. The guy on the phone thought it was mine, but I gestured towards the panicking girl, and she got her card back. I don’t think she was aware of my involvement, but I didn’t need the credit. It’s not like desperately needing reviews for some long-running podcast that suffered a protracted creative death.
Café Soundscape 16:06HRS
The blue skies make such a difference to my mood, despite more stuff going on with the flat and building. As you may be aware, if you heard the audio, scaffolders turned up this morning, again, and started laying out poles on the front lawn of the downstairs neighbours’ flats. No resident had been told more roof work was being carried out. I’m so f***ing tired of living in that place.
Big Hair, Big Dreams
The coffees here today have been good. The plan tomorrow is to get in here early to push on with the film script which is progressing, albeit slowly and then go out for another run.
I rehearsed both versions of this week’s set on today’s run, having refreshed in my mind a particularly tricky new section I debuted late last month on my buses into Clapham Junction this morning. It’s heartening to know that as big a pain as learning lines can be, I’m able to do it. I’ve just to rehearse this new set every day, the various versions, because I’ve not yet done it enough to remember it properly if I haven’t gigged for a week.
16:49HRS
There is another dog in the back-up café.
I know the guys here well enough to know they only opened a year ago, and that this cavernous place was formerly a Costa Coffee. It’s good to see the chain cafes (I’m dropping the accent for those generic clowns) turn on their heels this side of the pandemic. Starbucks already did a runner from Brixton, understandably not enjoying the amount of homeless people sleeping and begging outside their entrance, while the Costa there has either closed down now or is about to as yet another hotel wings its way into Wanky 21st century Brixton. It’s one of the ironies that as Brixton hits peak gentrification, it now has a high numbers of beggars and homeless people that simply weren’t around when Brixton was in its former violent incarnation.
Back to the dog/dogs. When they were discussing opening the café, did they discuss, at length, their policy on dogs in the café, or was everyone on the same page as far as f*** hygiene, let’s just let the dogs in and stroke them and then serve coffee and food without washing our hands?
What did you do today?
No need to respond.
I’m just making some SMALL talk, short of finding a way to segue into exiting this post.
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