This was an enjoyable day. My friend and work colleague TF visited from Chichester, to work on the templates for a project he’s doing. He is the one who blagged me my current job, for which I am forever in his debt, and a fascinating human being. Educated from a young age as a ballet dancer, he was working class but no Billy Elliot. He didn’t even particularly like ballet but found himself a professional dancer for about sixteen years with one of the major London ballet companies, pals with Nuryev (‘Rudi’) and all the greats. This was like the life of a rock star – hotels, hedonism and very hard work. Invalided out at 28, he took up photography, then in a complete volte face, ran a hardware shop, then sold insurance, then became a trainer, before coming into web development. Formally unqualified (all he learned at ballet school was ballet and how to read and count), he has a combination of Mensa-level intelligence (he was a member), an excellent memory and insatiable curiosity. Four years from retirement, he’s working on his next career as a teacher of paragliding.
Tonight I was putting together a demo of the tracks I’ve been working on for the last year, to take to the Sound Station, the studio at which I won some recording time at Acoustic Idols. I suddenly realised I have 80% of an album here, some pretty good stuff, not as tentative as I thought it was. I’ll user-test it with Calais, the studio owner and, next week, with Adrian and Deena, my friends and friendly critics in London. I’m optimistic. I like this stuff.