To: darryl@depechemode.com Subject: i can hear music Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 03:36:03 PST This is the way I always dreamed it would be The way that it is When you are holding me I never had a love of my own Maybe that's why when we're all alone I can hear music I can hear music The sound of the city baby seems to disappear I can hear music Sweet sweet music Whenever you touch me baby Whenever you're near Lovin' you It keeps me satisfied And I can't explain, oh no The way I'm feeling inside You look at me we kiss and then I close my eyes and here it comes again I can hear music I can hear music The sound of the city baby seems to disappear I can hear music Sweet sweet music Whenever you touch me baby Whenever you're near Friday is the work christmas do but I didn't feel like going so declined, which is opportune as it had vaguely slipped my mind Kate is heading back to Australia this weekend so we are having big drinks together at the Walkabout Pub. Work today was fine but tiring as usual, I worked from 9-8pm then headed back onto the tube and arrived at 8:50pm. When I first started it took me 40-50 mins to get to work in the morning but instead of taking the jubilee line I take the parallel metropolitian line which has 3 stops instead of 8, it means more walking and jumping between trains but I can knock it down to 35 minutes now. This night I headed to Baker Street tube and actually took the Hammersmith and City Line which ends up nearer the Walkabout Pub then my normal station. Earlier in the day I came into some money so I decided to buy something. And ended up getting a tape of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" by the London Symphony Orchestra for 18p. The seed for this email was composed in my head whilst listening to this tape this Monday the 7th of December morning, it helped while the time when the tube stopped running for a few minutes. Going back to Friday, when I got off the tube I gave myself a treat of hot chips and vinegar (yes I have relented - I thought it had to be done sooner or later) ate about three quarters while waiting in line to get into the pub while watching the streams of indian young'uns going to the Shepherds Bush Empire next door to a bangra/indian music concert. I get into the pub and walk around and catch up with everyone, they are basically everyone from the hostel. male : me, peter(sydney), mark (auckland), phil (aus), matt (aus), jeremy (aus - the bouncer) female : kate (hobart), kate (adelaide), sharee (adelaide), liz (perth), emma (hobart), jo (sydney), Anne-Marie (sydney). Like a lot of other australasians Kate is off for christmas and will be back perhaps in the new year. She is 20. She has been at the hostel for 3 months now and worked at the Seattle Cafe chain and was a great source of nourishment to me as she always brought us leftovers from work. Tonight is a foam party and so we enjoy a few drinks and I pay back a few alcoholic favours. The night goes by and the girls are darn crazy and attract a lot of attention; the typical Friday night band in fancy dress do mainly eighties covers and do "You Spin Me Around" and "Just Can't Get Enough"; oh yes a foam party, so as the night goes by we all hit the dancefloor and get ourselves soaked. The night ended with Phil and Matt wrestling or dragging each other or the girls through the foam-covered floor, as well as all of us scooping up wads of bubbles and suds and piling them on each other's head and face. Leave and look into the bhangra gig and see merchandise, I spot DCS stuff but can't get it - darn it ! Head back to the hostel making a detour to KFC, the first bit of chicken I've had in about 2-3 weeks. I took about 40 photos on this night. Have I told you about the food here ? Well they seem to love their fat and oil here, KFC is generally dripping in it, don't even mention their fish'n'chips. Normally it is precooked and they scoop it out. Only once at a shop opposite the Royal Court of Justice did they actually cook it. Saturday I have a plan..... http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/visitors/bottom_review.html?in_review_id=95105&in_review_text_id=76204 After a long sleep in at midday I head off to Portobello Road : DON'T FORGET ! Ronnie Spector playing at Dingwalls/Jongleurs on Sunday night......must get something to be signed. The weekend earlier I spotted a paperback of her autobiography for 2 UKP, so I walked briskly up and down Ladbroke Grove to the end of the market and ---- phew ---- it is still there, wrapped in plastic. Remind myself to get out my Beth Orton cd. Clutching it to my bosom I cross the road and get onto Ladbroke Grove tube station which is on the Hammersmith and Metropolitian line and I get on it and take 30 minutes to head from West to East all the way to Upton Park East Ham, a change from the nice clean green of where I live out west to the grimy slightly industrial east. The prices are much cheaper than capital London. Pop into the indian music store and pick up some postcards and finally get the DCS cd - they are a pure punjabi dance band, the cd costs 6 UKP which is cheap by UK standards. Spotted an orange confectionery which is cooked in hot oil. Want to eat at an indian restuarant but time is running out. Head to Queen Market which is a massive undercover warehouse with more indian clothes/fabrics stores, butchers, nicknacks, grocers than you can shake a stick at. I grab some shaky keyrings for 1 UKP each. It is getting dark (4pm) so need to head off to Camden to pick up tickets for Ronnie ! Get onto the District line and head back west to Bank and head north on the Northern line to Camden. RONNIE SPECTOR ! Getting out of the tube there are screeds of people leaving but sure enough there are still plenty of people out there so much so that I have to walk on the road again. Head to Dingwalls which overlooks Camden lock --- the venue itself doesn't seem to be open so it looks as though I'll have to get the ticket before the gig. The pub and bar are open though so I grab a quick visit to the toilet. No luck and I don't feel like asking so I head into a few stores as it has been a few months since I've been here. Find cd single by THE KING - "Come As You Are". As some of you may know it is a fellow that sings songs by Nirvana, Joy Division etc in the style of Elvis. The album is called 'Gravelands'. He is playing here this coming Wednesday but it is well sold out already. Also find cd by Jeremy Deller's Acid Brass, it is old current techno songs done by a Brass Band. Dean ! Ya gotta check out 'Voodoo Ray' ! Head back west to Notting Hill Gate to get some cheap veges and fruit. Along the way I can't help but look into the music stores and pick up some 1 pound cds (Sun Electric, Justin Hayward and Mike Batt). In there is a fellow who I know from the Electric Dreams niteclub and he has a wad of cds as well and he tells me that a Depeche Mode tribute band is playing the club on Monday 14th. So it's a done date. Check into the secondhand book store and note that the ZIPPY The Pinhead comic book has still not come down in price yet. The markets are winding down so I get cheap grapes and Mushrooms (which later in the week I would fry up with butter and have with pasta shells). I still have bananas, kiwifruit and broccoli from the weekend before so don't need these. Head back and eat some cheap noodles I picked up at East Ham and spend the night recovering from the day and the night before by chatting to a few people. Sunday ! Get up early at 10am grab glass of water and some rice bubbles and go. I don't seem to feel hungry in the mornings any more, probably because I eat quite late. Today will be busy, I've decided to take Emma on a little tour of London so plan for Brick Lane, Greenwich Village, Camden, then the concert which is in Camden of course - how opportune ! Mustn't forget the Beth Orton cd. Nix on Brick Lane, I wanted to pick up some cheap CAT walking boots but I've managed to find some through another source.... We head to Greenwich Village. Jump onto our tube on the Central line and head east for about 10 stops to Bank station and jump onto Dockland Light Rail. This is one my favourite trip in London, I've been here before many times the first time I still have to detail to you guys cause that was a good day with some canadians... The trip is underground for about 1 minute then all of a sudden you burst out into the backyards of East London and the view is great. As we reach Canary Wharf we look out the window and down and see the bridges and buildings above the water. We get off and walk around the mall and for the first time I head off to see Caxton Square and get my photo taken with Canary Tower London's tallest building which ain't much behind me. [http://www.canary.co.uk/ coming soon !] Walk amongst the suspension bridges....I get my photo taken and sit down on the bridge and feel the water's gentle buffetting on my bottom. From the bridge we can see the Millenium Dome, it doesn't look big at the moment but I'm sure up closer it will be aweful. Because of these developements it's tempting for me to stay on till the year 2000, but what will happen with the bug will London turn to shit ? By the way, the sun is shining this weekend ! It's windy and chilly but what the hey. We get back onto the tube and continue on to Island Garden. On the way we pass London Arena and see a large souvenir/merchandising stall and various barriers. Who is it ? Duran Duran ? Massive Attack ? The tube wends it way between glassed buildings and as usual I love the look of my blurry reflection in the dark glass. Looking down into the wharf inlet I can see the floating chinese restaurant. After that we pass Mudchute and looking to the left I can see a bit of the animal farm on the green rolling hill. We reach Island Garden which is the final stop. We get off with several hundred (!!) people. I take Emma out to the riverside to show her the view of The Royal Naval Museum and other related buildings which are architecturally based on some greek designs. She asks where are we going now, I point across and say over there to Greenwich Village. She asks how, I say guess and look down towards the water. And a big smile comes on her face. Within a few minutes we have descended the steps and are 44 feet beneath the Thames, it is a 1300 feet walk though a tunnel and takes us about 8 minutes or so...does time pass differently underwater ? How about passing water ? Every now and then I avoid the pools of water in the ground and their creators seeping through the curved roof. The busker is a flamenco guitar player - I don't think I could stand to be here for any long length of time. Looking at the walls we pass I am reminded of the boy and the dyke (sic). I remember the first time I heard about the tunnel, it sounded exciting then and for me it is always exciting walking the echo laden stretch under the mighty dirty Thames. We ascend in the lift and in front of is the CuttySark which I think is the last tea clipper around or summat. We check into the Millenium Dome centre and watch videos of the area and of the plans. It looks spectacular but I voiced my concern that they wouldn't be able to finish it on time. An english gentleman next to me says that they (the government) definitely will no matter what the cost ;-) We pop out and check out some bookstores, the main marketplace is full to capacity and is doing our head in so we leave but grab some strong smelling fudge on the way out (we promise to each other we'll go back and pay the stall owner later). I head off to one of the reasons I came here. two months ago I came across a copy of William Orbit's withdrawn cd called 'Electric Chamber' which is worth a pretty penny but after scouring the shop twice-thrice no go ! shit ! Orbit ranting : as some of you know I am an Orbit fanatic, since coming here I've caught up with Richard Shea who maintains the Orbit webpage and bought wogders of Orbit related musical items. 2 Weeks ago Richard go invited into Trevor Horn's Sarm West studio to meet William and Blur who he is recording at the moment. Still on a high from the successful "Ray Of Light" album I'm buzzing myself. Pretty soon we'll be heading out to his old studios. Sheesh, we even know where he used to live ;-) Hopefully I will be in London when Madonna does a tour... Ronnie ranting : RONNIE SPECTOR !! We are hungry ! Pop into a bakery chainstore called Greggs and grab some pies and sausage rolls - YUM ! Decide to head up to the observatory before it gets dark. We stroll through the park and under sunlight it looks good but it's all grim and cold at the moment. Up the hill I notice frost on the grass and trail ! At the top we look down the hill and over the river and look down onto the Naval Museum, Millenium Dome and other sticky outy things. We look at the 0 degree latitude line which divides EAST and WEST. I've taken my photo here before. We walk around the park with a view to checking out Blackheath where supposedly plague victims were buried but get sidetracked by some squirrels. We head back and I enjoy slipping and sliding on the tarmac and the grass feeling the ice crunch under my feet. I see a young child approaching the ice slick so I slide towards her to indicate to him that it's a bit dangerous here and sure enough he calls his daughter over. On the way back to the village we have a craving for a pub dinner so pop in and grab roast lamb with the usual overflowing plate of potatoes and vegetables. As usual the lamb is quite tasteless - unbelievable, a very weak taste ! Head back into the village and check out the markets. It is 6pm and the concert doors open at 7:30pm ! I estimate it'll be about one hour to get back there. So we descend the stairs under the Thames again with bursting bladders and skoot along to the other end. Up the stairs to the local toilets : CLOSED ! I relieve myself under the bridge but for Emma it is a different story. We head back and on the tube and realise we got on the wrong one, we stop off at the London Arena and realise by the AUSTIN 3:16 and SHAWN MICHAELS placards that is it the WWF and there is £$%^&* of people here ! We have 10 minutes to kill so we descend into the crowd past the hawkers and painted faces. We have a look at the floating chinese restaurant and the note that the dishes are quite cheap about 3.50 UKP per dish. As we walk down the line we pass fathers and sons who have just arrived and are cursing the long crowd ! I should've taken a photo of it but no no no. Get back on and head back to Bank station then up north to Camden. Rush to the venue and go to a pub toilet. The venue entrance was actually around the corner from where I was looking the day earlier. At 6:45pm there is a leatherclad middle-aged guy waiting outside the window and we can hear Ronnie rehearsing. Emma is having a drink so I head back to the pub for 15 minutes assured that we would be able to get tickets. We return and there are about 6 middle-aged guys there now with leather jackets, pigtails and beards and with bags of items to be signed in their hands. We decide to pop into the local record store to kill some time. When we return there is a line thirty people so we go in. The concert starts at 9:30pm but we're too tired and just want to sit down. Over the two hours we drink water and watch as more people come in and soon enough the venue is bursting to capacity. The patrons are an even mixture of middle-aged people and young 20-30 year olds. The dj plays some top tunes on the decks, a mixture of kitch, lounge, 60s music including a Ramones song which Emma recognises as she is a fan, strange she says, but not so strange I say as they have just recorded with Ronnie. He also plays The Beach Boys "Don't Worry Baby" and we sing along cos loves da Beach Boyz. We see many parents with their 20-30 year old children as well. Shit, forgot the Beth Orton cd and it's too late to go buy another copy ! At 9:15pm we head up to the front of the stage, the best place to be. Recalling that this is where Rick Wakeman stands to introduce comedians at the Jongleurs comedy club. umm...okay.... In front of us are the leather clad guys and a young girl with a US flag bandana and a Southside Johnny and The Astbury Dukes tshirt. We are just to the right of the centre of the stage. Beside us appears a group of eight gay guys - if you read Ronnie's autobiography she notes how she and The Ronnettes were popular in the gay community. One of them has deliciously high cheek bones and makeup and keeps shouting for Ronnie Ronnie Ronnie ! The the right of us are some young alternative looking girls. A stagehand brings on the setlist and tapes it to the stagefloor so despite it all we all can't help looking down and seeing what is coming up next, I read a few selected words but look away. At 9:40pm she come out to rapturous applause. She is much shorter than I imagined and is a bit tubbier with age but still has that hair ! The band looks familiar, there is a rock chick girl in leathers and shades who looks very familiar and must've been in another band which I can't place just yet. The female backup singer looks familiar as well. To the right of the stage is a woman done up like an old punk and has various button badges on just like in the old punkdays, she looks familiar as well in her jet black hair and shades. Here's the setlist : 1. Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love ? 2. Don't Worry Baby This song was the bomb, like everyone else and all the minions pushing onto us from behind we were all singing along to basically all the songs. 3. Do I Love You About here Ronnie gets more raunchy, you'll have to see the pictures. All the gay guys hold out their hands and she touches them. Remember that I am so close that if I wanted to I could've grabbed her. The stage is only one metre high. 4. Say Goodbye To Hollywood A song by Billy Joel which was written for her and was recorded by her some years later. The gay guys are making lots of movement and jostling everyone and we all get off on their energy. I say to the old fellow behind me who is having to endure their buffeting that'll it'll go crazy when 'Be My Baby' comes on. 5. So Young 6. She Talks To Rainbows A cover of a Ramones song. 7. I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine Ronnie just as I suspected talks about this song and how a girl in the crowd had sung it on her recent album and she then she calls out for her and introduces Beth Orton ! I love that surname, reminds me of Joe Orton and in the movie of his life it stars Alfre Molina who shares the same birthday as me. hey, there is a girl from New Zealand from Mt Maunganui at the hostel. I asked her age and it was close to mine so I asked her if she knew some people and found out they were in fact her neighbours ! And she knows several people I knew from University as well and in fact we had meet earlier in 1993 at a New Years Party in Mt Maunganui. Oh yeah, we shared the same birthdate as well ! She comes on with her head down wearing a brown furry floppy hat covering her eyes and overlong sleeved grey top and jeans looking every bit like a british female singer songwriter. Well as you may know Beth's version of the song is a quiet acoustic one, the version here was a VERY rocky one and from the onset everyone could see Beth was a bit perturbed. The phrasing on the chorus is completely different to what she had done. She basically had to shout to get it (just) right. Imagine Tina Turner, Aerosmith or even Meatloaf doing a cover of the song and you'll get the idea of how it was sounding. Ronnie sung the first 2 verses and Beth came in on the chorus. Then Beth sang the third verse. Luckily by this time her voice was coming into her own and we could hear her lovely voice being used to better effect. At the end I had my camera ready as I thought they would both hug and accept the applause but once the song finished Beth practically ran off the stage through the crowd headdown, well, with her floppy hat you couldn't see her eyes anyway ! The reason I like her is that I have a little album of hers and it is great, plus she had collaborated with Chemical Brothers and more importantly William Orbit, co-writing and singing most songs on his albums, including 'Water From A Vineleaf' and the later single 'She Cries Your Name' okay ? So for those of you who I gave William Orbit or Strange Cargo cds now you know ;-) Though I think they broke up due to some personal differences. 8. Is This What I Get For Loving You ? 9. Walking In The Rain 10. Baby I Love You At this point Ronnie basically cries out for Joey Ramone and from the right of the stage we see a long lanky and curlyhaired fellow with shades comes through the crowd. One of the alternative looking girls rushed up and kisses him on the steps ! He comes on to rapturous applause and they launch into the fastest song of the night with plenty of crowd call and response. It is a Ronnie song which The Ramones covered back in 1980 if I recall. 11. Bye Bye Baby They duet on this song which is a Ramones song from 1987 which is due out on her forthcoming EP with them. During this song the girls climb past us and onto the front of the stage to take photos of Joey. After this he leaves and the alternative looking girls follow him out the side stage door. We look over and Joey gets cornered by several people after him for I suspect an autograph. 12. The Best Part of Breaking Up (Is Making Up) 13. Memory 14. Be My Baby Aaahhh, what everyone had been waiting for ! The beginning drum sound is recognisable and we all once again tear our throats open trying to match her vocal performance of the old classic "oh oh oh ohs" and "a whooah whooahs". encore 15. Frosty The Snowman 16. I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Under The Christmas Tree 17. I Can Hear Music She comes back on stage in sexy Santa gear and sings the two songs she sung on the classic "Phil Spector Christmas Album". The last song is one of my favourite Beach Boys songs, though she did the original. Trivia : I first heard the song on a Queen bootleg cd. When they were in Trident Studios in London recording their first album someone needed a vocalist to sing a song in a style pastische of Gary Glitter. The person enlisted Freddie Mercury and some other members of the band on board and recorded the song under the name of Larry Lurex (geddit?) The b-side incidentally was a cover of Dusty Springfields 'Going Back' which is magnificent and you can obviously tell it is Freddie singing this beautiful song. Anyway I fell in love with the song and later on picked up the Beach Boys version, so I guess I have to get Ronnie's version now. Incidentally there was a tribute album recently with the Beach Boys singing their hits with country artists and I think christian music star Kathy Trocolli sings on this song with them, don't quote me on that though ! Anyway I was the most vocal I hope in singing this song, not quite hitting the falsettos though ! When she walks off stage I stick out my hand and she grabs it and I oops...dig my fingernails into her palm ;-O An oldish fellow in a dirty mac hands her a gift as she leaves stage left. At the end we gave all involved rapturous applause and the crowd started to clear. Despite me telling Emma to quickly dive in and grab the setlist off the stage everyone beats us to it ! The concert lasted only just over an hour. Near the end I had to slow down on my photo taking, I have 3 shots left and Emma has 1. Now we set about the task of getting autographs etc. In the corner is Joey still signing autographs. We line up and get talking to a woman with a setlist in her hand. I wondered aloud to my companion if I'd be able to get Beth's autograph and sure enough she walked right past me a second later (no joke!) so I asked her and got a photo and an autograph on my ticket ! I had a chat to her and she asked me if she sounded okay, I said yeah but said we could see she had trouble getting into it (gulp! for want of a better phrase) She said that she couldn't hear her voice - a problem with the monitors. I cursed the fact I had forgotten her cd and wasn't able to get William Orbit's cd (though I don't think she would've liked to sign it). Unlike other celebrities I've had my photo taken with she gave me a big hug for the photo. In later conversations outside many people mentioned she was quiet and so was Joey Ramone so they put the cause down to the mikes. Joey escapes the crowd and goes in the backroom. We line up and their are about 15 of us. A glimmer of hope as the first group of 5 people are let in. But after a few minutes they come out and say she is leaving out the front as the pub has to close at 11pm as is typical of the UK here ! ggrrr ! We all head out to the front door and there are now nine of us. After about 10 minutes Ronnie comes out with her husband who I thought I had recognised correctly earlier. He says she'll sign inside the car. We all lineup and the husband Johnathon asks us our names and passed our objects to be signed into the car. I whip out my gold pen and handed him my brand-spanking-new-fought-hard-for-secondhand copy of her autobiography. Everyone was all smiles and we chatted with them. I couldn't believe that I was standing and talking with the very people I'd been reading about a few weeks earlier and whom I had gained a great deal of admiration and respect for !! (To see what I mean you'll have to read the book!) I recall how after reading that book I knew I had to see her live no matter what, and when I happened to see the small 2cm by 10cm ad in the corner of a paper four days earlier I knew I had to get to this concert no matter what. All those hours preceding the concert thinking about it and what would happen and who the special guests were and a million other permutations circulating around Murphys Law were let out with a big sigh of relief. At this point they asked me what I was going on about and I excused myself for thinking out loud (a la Homer Simpson..Doh!) Ronnie signed my book "To Darryl Be My Baby, Ronnie Spector". Some fellow had about 5 items and Johnathon said she would only sign the ones with Ronnie on it but not the booklet for the Phil Spector cd boxset ;-) At the end a french fellow with professional SLR camera asks for a photo and he quickly takes one of both of them in the backseat of the car. I quickly ask if I may and quickly sit down on the kerb with my head against to the backdoor - Emma told me I looked silly and spoiled the photo but what the heck. Now : we all still hung around cos Joey still hadn't come out yet. After about five minutes someone comes to the door and counts how many of us are out there and reports back to him and he comes out. A lot of people here have shitloads of Ramones records with them, how did they know he was coming ? Anyway Emma is too shy to ask for an autograph so asks for a photo first so I take it (The last one for her camera). I get him to sign my book and a photo. (The last one of my camera). As I noted when he was onstage he is lefthanded. The punk lady I saw him with was his wife, as I recall there is an interesting story about that but I have forgotten it. I push Emma at the end to go ask for an autograph so she gets one. Joey seems like a shy guy up close, but was very courteous and ready to chat with all of us. At the end we all depart our separate ways. A lady we had been talking with and who had used my pen offered to drop us off at the hostel as she is living just past us on the condition we help her navigate the streets ! Joining us for the brief walk to the car is the original leatherclad guy I saw, he is a big fan and was on first name terms with Ronnie and Johnathon, we asked him about the last she played etc. Last time she did a Uk tour he went to all of them ! The lady is called Susan and she tells us how she happened to be in London for the day and spotted the poster and quickly came forsaking all others. We get into the car. Luckily I've driven round London before with Richard so we head south and past Kings Cross station then along that main road we turn left towards Tottenham Court Road, there are lots of annoying oneway roads so we need to get almost to Covent Garden and up Charing Cross Road the left along Oxford Street then 2-3 kms back to our place. When she drops us off we exchange numbers as she lives in Bristol. I go get a snack and hit the sack on a high, smiling at our good fortune today and the ride back as I had been worried about catching the night bus which takes a long time to get back home. Next Monday and in fact for the remainder of this week I'm still on a high despite picking up a cold. It is Wednesday 8pm now and I am writing this after work. Today I was supposed to pick up tickets for Marc Almond and STOMP but will have to leave it till tomorrow. I also need to pick up tickets to the Carl Wilson tribute concert on 20th. My good friend from Tauranga Malcolm and Sarah are back in London for a week. Emma and I are annoyed at other people's ignorance of who we had experienced.I guess they had to be there ! I wish you guys were with us too ! ________________________________________________ I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine Baby do you know what you did today? Baby do you know what you took away? You took the blue out of the sky My whole life changed when you said goodbye And I keep cryin'...cryin' Oooh baby, oooh baby I wish I never saw the sunshine I wish I never saw the sunshine And if I never saw the sunshine baby Then maybe...I wouldn't mind the rain Every day is just like the day before All alone, a million miles from shore All of my dreams, I dream with you Now they will die and never come true And I keep cryin'...cryin' Oooh baby, oooh baby I wish I never saw the sunshine I wish I never saw the sunshine And if I never saw the sunshine baby Then maybe...I wouldn't mind the rain This pain... And I know there would not be This cloud that's over me...everywhere I go Oooh baby, oooh baby I wish I never saw the sunshine I wish I never saw the sunshine And if I never saw the sunshine baby Then maybe...I wouldn't mind the rain This pain...I wouldn't mind the rain There wouldn't be this pain I wouldn't mind the rain ...wouldn't mind the rain nuff said ? --- To: xmasadventures@london.co.uk Subject: xmas time Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 11:41:53 PST HI all well this is a little update on what happened over Christmas. I worked on Christmas eve, my friend Emma went to a Catholic Girls School so wanted to go to the RC church down our road for Midnight Mass. It was fun though I think RC churches are very creepy with lots of crucifixes about. I enjoyed the chance to air out my lungs, it was interesting in that there were 14 stations (pictures) of Christ's crucifiction around the walls. The incense they used in that little burner they swing to and fro smelt foul. During communion Emma said that she told me I could not take communion , but I misheard her as saying "come up and have a snack and a drink it'll be a great laugh!" Suffice to say I embarrassed and probably offended the padre. When he held up the flake white thing which is supposed to be bread in his fingers I plucked it out from his hand rather than holding out my left palm above my right palm and wait for him to place it in them then say something and cross myself. As I turned away munching something that I would have to pick out from my teeth later I felt someone grab my left arm. The wine didn't go down well either as the padre asked me to hold the goblet with BOTH hands.... Suffice to say I made a quick dash out the door with my head down. On Christmas day I spent indoors all day watching television : great tv here, watched Casablanca as well as the classic 1976 Morcambe and Wise Christmas Show which is a big family favourite here, Babe, Mrs Brown, View To A Kill as well various Russ Meyer films. Spent Boxing Day in the same way ! The next day was Sunday so I caught up with Adele a friend of my cousin Celia. She came over to the UK a week before me and was working in Ireland and was in London for a few days. We tried to contact my cousin Rodney but he's as elusive as ever, I would find out later he's gone to Hogmanay in Edinburgh Scotland. We decide to go shopping and hit the markets mainly Camden ! The weather is a bit dark so there's less people than normal but we have fun walking around sharing the adventures we've had since arriving in this part of the world. On Monday I have to get out again so have 3 things to do : Natural Living Museum, Old Street, Soho. But I go to the museum and end up spending 6 hours in there ! The best part are the dinosaur skeletons, all the other stuff was too wordy e.g. minerals etc. Oh, I have to say that the minerals and gems exhibition is cool as they have a lot of jewellery on display worth millions ! http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ Tuesday- Thursday back to the grindstone. Nothing much of note except a zambian workmate's brother committed suicide, don't know how he did it. Looking forward to payday on Thursday, as I said there are great sales here. For a sampling have a look at : http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/lifestyle.html I forgot to mention that my friend who works in the perfume factory is actually Elizabeth Ardens so naturally can get any of those products. On New Years day I'll be attending the London parade who boasts several thousand dancers and massive floats etc so expect lots of photos. Speaking of which I have a few spare photos so if anyone wants one............... http://www.londonparade.co.uk more to come soon............
