Something of a family show in the crypt of this church tonight. Not in the sense of “fun for all the family”. In the sense of “my friend family was in attendance”.
Another beautiful 1840’s edifice, this one with loads of flint. St Peter’s Bethnal Green..It’s a good solid slightly damp basement downstairs… Catacombs. They’ve dressed them cleverly and closed off huge portions for ops and storage.
Full house tonight and some good friends. Brian showed up, bless his heart, so I made him read things out loud. I know how he loves that and never worries about it. Also Lou came up from Brighton yay! I was worried she wouldn’t get to see me as a scatterbrained genius. Apart from in the day to day, of course. It was very special having two people who’ve been such a force for good in my life both in the room at the same time.
The afternoon before she arrived was spent sorting books and listening to my brother talking about insects on the radio. Then I left the damn radio talking and had to listen to the news. Seems like Godot finally got around to delivering the Sue Grey Report. Now we will probably see even more nothing from these toads. It is incredibly telling the extent to which it shows how little the current crop of so called statesmen think that they are part of the flow of the world. Fiddling while Rome burns.
No show tomorrow so Lou and I will have a rare London day. We can hang out and maybe go to a museum. It’ll be good to have her here for a change. She’s not big on the big smoke. We just had a discussion as to whether she was going to need to sleep with earplugs. I am often not even slightly aware of the road noise in this room. The filter on the fishtank is louder to my brain than the main road, but at Reading my bedroom was backed onto Cemetery Junction, on the first floor, walls made of paper. Three floors up and brick walls and it feels like luxury. But yeah, I can hear it now and it IS noisy.
The show this week is finding its ways to settle and ways to warp. There’s playfulness and commitment between us. I’m still delighted daily by the diligence and knowledge of the company, and by their flexibility and commitment. Great humans the lot of them. Glad to be in the mix and to have shared it with friends tonight. I’m not very good at encouraging people to come and see my things. In fact, rather more the opposite. But we run two more days, and a new Saturday matinee recently went on sale.
It’s a day off tomorrow. Can’t wait. Lou is already sparked out and I don’t want to lose the morning so I’m gonna join her. I’m knackered anyway. Hot bath and big bowl of pasta. Out.
AlBarclay 