like flies round hits

So I have just got back from 2 pretty hectic days of meetings and other work related events as well as a few personal ones.
I got the train up early Wednesday and arranged to meet my daughter at Liverpool Street. Rosie is studying fashion in London so I don't get to see her as much as I would like (which would be everyday).

She is in the middle of designing/making some menswear and brought along her pieces, a massive black top, a black and white pinstriped pair of long shorts and a black jacket. I was totally blown away by how good they were (a very proud dad moment). It was exciting to see her being excited...... her show is next Friday.
We decided to walk to Great Portland Street from Liverpool Street and have a gander at the shops/buildings on the way. I am London obsessed and any chance to immerse myself in the architecture and history is alright by me and it's a chance to point things out (short cuts/wierd statues) to Rosie so she feels she knows her new home better too.
I was brought up in London/Greater borough of... and spent my teenage/early twenties squatting and working in central London and still miss the place.
We had a drink in a pub off Great Portland Street and then Rosie went to some secretive, unmarked door where upstairs they have every bit of haberdashery for people who are in the know, there was probably a secret handskae involved too. We then walked up Oxford Street in the direction of South Molton Street and vivited a few of the shops along the way. I used to work in the old HMV at the top of South Molton Street on Oxford Street and it brought back a lot of vague memories from those days.
Rosie had to catch a bus to Shepards Bush Market to buy some sequins so we said goodbye and I made my way to my hotel on Farringdon Road. 2 years after her leaving home for Uni I still can't bear saying goodbye to her, I dread it even though it is inevitable everytime.
Walking to Farringdon via Bloomsbury, Grays Inn Road and Kings Cross Road again memories flooded back. I spent a number of years squatting around that area and just being in the old neighbourhood was an interesting experience. We used to go to a lot of gigs (being in bands and that we were just a bit obsessed) at the Pindar of Wakefield on Grays Inn Road, I remember seeing the Pride Of The Cross and Pogue Mahone there. Caitlin from Pride of The Cross was the cool one and she later joined The Pogues and then married the pretty annoyingly inconsistent Elvis Costlello.
We (mostly my friend/bandmate Graham and I) also saw The Prisoners there a lot. They were the band we loved for a year or so and were an amazing live band, purveyors of the "Medway Sound" and a proper garge band (shout out to the Playne Jayne too). If only that geezer from Toerag Studios was about then to capture that sound, I still listen to Hurricane from their album The Wizermizerdemelza pretty often and In From The Cold on Stiff Records is almost perfect as an album. Nice dogtooth check whistles on the cover too.

The Travelodge on Farringdon (opp the Holiday Inn) was an abomination. One of my colleagues had a room with a dent/punch mark on the inside of his door, his tv had the classic cracked windscreen look and when he pulled the towel off the towel rack the panel on the wall fell off (probably where somebody had been digging an escape tunnel).

We walked down Farringdon Road to the Mermaid Theatre for an awards ceremony. It was a shame to see Smithfields empty and unloved. Somebody should squat it and make it come alive.

End of Part One

Keep an eye out.

The Lost Levels decided to do some market research in regards to their new video....here are the results

So 64 people , a film crew, a sound engineer, 8 acts, a pr company and local journos packed into my house that is nomally only populated by my wife Rosie, my daughter Rosie, myself and the 3 cats Pendel, Magic Ted and Peregrine.

With the help of a massive vat of veggie chilli, 100 home made hot dogs, a ton of bottled beer, Cava, G and T's, a litre of whiskey and a cheeseboard we pulled it off.

Jont and all the other acts played amazing (but short) sets, we had a sing song at 3 in the morning with a set of 80's covers and loads more besides. We even had an artist sketcing the proceedings.....

I am hosting one of these at my house later  this week

http://www.i-am-everyone.co.uk/orangeunlit

Support comes from Lost Levels, Loyal Few and Josh Weller doing acoustic sets. It's going to be amazing.....