Had a great time with A in London catching up on the 20-odd years since we’d seen each other, and reminiscing about our time in Cairo together, about seven years before that; in fact finding out lots of stuff we didn’t know each other were getting up to at the time! And those little Cairo moments, like the 80mph taxi rides, the landlords who permanently wore striped pyjamas, the attendant at the petrol station nonchalantly filling the tank with a lit cigarette in his hand – the same hand as the pump mind you. We spent some time at Covent Garden market, which was quite magical this time of year. Perhaps fortunately we were out of cash and by the time we found the nearest machine we had to go, otherwise we’d be bankrupt now. Another highlight was visiting his elderly mother in a nursing home and taking her out for a walk in the garden. On the Friday night I discovered songs we’d written together that I’d forgotten. We hatched the idea of meeting again in Heliopolis next year, or maybe at his new home in Santa Barbera.
All this weekend I practised for a solo set at a community music night here in the Ferry, only to discover when I got there I had not only the night but the weekend wrong. I discovered this by looking at my own diary, outside the closed venue, so no excuse.
For those of us captivated by such things, a couple of great Fripp videos on YouTube – The Robert Fripp String Quintet and a >Frippertronics performance.