By my standards a very chilled day, but we are still knackered as it all had to be responsive and last minute. It was like a treasure hunt. Lou had the hours of daylight in which to assemble a strange list of items for use in her work while she had access to my car. These items were scattered across the length and breadth of The South Downs, some in the possession of other people in Lewes, some locked in workshops in Port Slade. Meanwhile the good people of Brighton were running round in circles outside Lou’s flat and down the seafront, achieving a half marathon for charity. Lining the streets, the half-enthusiastic clappers. “yay oh you’re doing so well oh yay well yeah keep going ooh yeah go well done you hooray go on keep running woo oh gosh you’re doing so well etc etc” clap clap clap clap tired clap clap clap bored Coffee shops doing a roaring trade. Bars open. Spring light. “Fuck it shall we get a pint?”
We had coffee to boost the beginning of our adventure, in the sunshine down at FIKA. An actual shock of light despite cold, somehow warm in the sunlight, remember this? It happened once. We could be in the outside without consequence, light on the faces, sun energy into the eyes, come back come back Persephone come to the world again and bring the light you bear. We got all the things. We didn’t want to cook so Kemptown Cuisine provided Indian food and then a hot bath and relaxing with the cat. It’s half eight. Last night we didn’t get to sleep until 2 so I’m happy at the prospect of an early down ahead of another long week. I’ll be off into the smoke again, straight into a driving job like the one I just sent a tape for but in real life. I think I’ll need to be in Finsbury Park at eleven. Nobody has been entirely clear so get up and go seems the right policy. London to Brighton at that time can be thorny on a Monday. All the chaps wot bought a second home in the eighties but still have to go into the firm three days a week coming back up from another weekend shouting about their investments in the sauna before parading through the lanes in their dry robe howling about quinoa.
I’m feeling very full and very chill. Lou literally actually gave me a foot massage while I was writing to you, I think because she feels I’ve been patient and attendant to her needs, which I have been but you all know I enjoy being responsive and useful. Hence the event work. Hence a lot of what I do. Theatre, when they let me.
And so to bed. Chamomile and snuggles.
AlBarclay 