A friend of mine has been done over by a client to the tune of forty grand. It’s an old friend of his, he put his trust in him, ran up loads of costs, did up his gaff and now he’s blocked on everything and he’s gonna have to pay a solicitor. That puts my money woes into perspective. Forty grand. Lawks alordy.
This evening I helped him load up a dehumidifier, some cables, a tile cutter and a chair. We got it all into Bergie and I drove it over to his place in exchange for a beef pie. The pie came with gravy and mash, kale and peas. A fine exchange if you ask me. And it was good to catch up with him. Helps me remember there are other people in this struggle. We met in 2002 and we are both still at it. Both have light in our eyes. But both of us need to dump from time to time to keep that light. I could have stung him for petrol but a pie will do under the circumstances.
I got home from pie and changed my sheets. He’s only in Pimlico, one of my local friends. I try to see him a few times a year. It’s always pleasant.
I feel like I’m gonna need a really good sleep tonight though, so pie might have been a heavy choice. I’ll settle it with some chamomile. My dreams have been very very busy the last few nights and I’ve frequently woken myself up mid sentence. It’s likely my brain processing away all the travel in America, and all the Shakespeare, calibrating back into this flat with the traffic noise and the friendly nocturnal cats. But it means I’m not feeling rested right now.
In other news, I washed my ruff today. Put it in a pot with a load of vanish and boiling water. Now it is on the draining board as it is soaking. I want it to drain thoroughly and dry in shape. That might take a few days. I washed it because it was covered in makeup and yellowing badly in the middle, and I thought I might have to lend it to Jack to cover me for a Shakespeare gig next week, but the client has decided to drop their money on a band instead. We are keeping our prices in the region of what we would like to be paid. No point dropping them to guarantee the client bites, that way you end up pulling the bottom out of your own market. The ruff has needed cleaning for a long time now and I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk it. With Lou’s advice of putting it in the pot, it seems to have come out fine. Annoying it won’t get put to use this time.
A quiet day today but I wanted that. Would prefer to be acting of course, but I didn’t spend much, didn’t make much, got a free pie. My only expense was a chai latte in Maida Vale, for over a fiver! It is getting unsustainable these days not to carry home made coffee in a keepie cup. I’m pulling out my delivery habit, might have to do something about the takeaway coffee habit too, particularly when I’m near home and there’s a coffee grinder.
AlBarclay 