Fruity on the Radio Podcast

Now uploaded... the podcast of me co-hosting Fruity On The Radio is here...

http://idisk.mac.com/lescarter/Public/FOTR231007.mp3

For PC users, all you need to do to save the file is click the right mouse button on the link, select "Save Target As" and put the file somewhere on your computer. Once it's on your computer, just double-click the file to start playing it.

I was going to do a proper blog entry tonight but the pictures aren't loading for some reason and it's getting late, so I'll do a bumper edition tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the tunes!

Tower of London

Last night we went to an african restaurant for a lovely meal, and my last meal with Les and Crissi before I was due to set off and leave the vacancies in the house to other people who are coming over for the Carter gig. It was a lovely meal with lovely conversation about matters as diverse as spirituality, herbalism, Carter and Les' missing hat. I really enjoy spending time with Les and Crissi and I don't think they minded having me around either which was nice.

This morning I said my farewells to Les and Chateau Fruitbat, before lugging my gear over to Earlsfield. Thankfully the "kindness of strangers" was in full force as two separate people helped me haul my luggage along two different stairways. It was very much appreciated because the stairs here are hefty enough even without luggage. I found Leanne and Greg's place and Leanne let me in for a cup of tea while she finished a work teleconference. Soon afterwards we both set off to the trains - her going to work and me heading out Canada Water way in search of a good shop I'd heard of. Alas I didn't find that particular shop but I did find somewhere selling jerk chicken so I finally got to taste the glory of jerk chicken. Apparently Jason Bootle (Les' friend who was also in Abdoujaparov and Who's The Daddy Now? for a while) is a big fan of the jerk chicken and Les reckons that's actually why Jason initially stayed in London as long as he did. I got it with the sauce, hoping or assuming it would be some kind of caribbean hot sauce, but even though it was just tomato sauce it wasn't enough to drown out the tasty spices of the jerk chicken which left a pleasant spicy taste in the mouth even once the chicken was all in the belly. Incidentally, Canada Water is also the name of a song by The French (a post-Hefner band) so I've had that song jangling around my had for much of the day. It's also not far from New Cross, which is referenced in Carter USM's biggest hit, The Only Living Boy In New Cross, but I thought it would be a little eccentric to go there for that reason alone.


Moving on then via the tube to the Tower of London, which was one destination that Anna had recommended to me despite the price. Just as I was arriving a guided tour was just kicking off so I quickly got on board with that and enjoyed the tales of decapitations, blood, gore and more decapitation told by this beefeater here. Part tour guide, part actor, part comedian, he was totally genius and made the guided section of the tour a real treat. He had a large audience of visitors who followed him around as he told his tales of yore. Most people are really big on stories - learn through stories, enjoy telling stories... oddly enough, despite the fact I'm writing this blog I don't really consider myself to be amongst that group of people. I don't like TV, movies, any books devoid of scientific (or sci-fi) or Buddhist content. However, there was one story I quite liked. I warn you though, I'm no story teller...

In this here circular tower there was a Scottish man who had been sentenced to death for some crime. His wife was horrified by this and wanted to save her husband so she set off down from Scotland, via coach until she could travel no further on account of heavy storms. She switched to horse and travelled the rest of the way before arriving in London, seeing the king, and presenting a case asking for clemency for her husband. The king would not release the Scotsman, but allowed him to have guests on the day before his execution. She went there with a whole lot of women, and those women kept coming and going from the tower so often that the guard at the gate could no longer keep track of how many women were in there. One of the "women" coming out was in fact the Scotsman himself, disguised as a woman. Not a bad effort really because he was over six foot tall and had a long ginger beard. Seeing that her husband had escaped with the other women, the wife went to the guard and said that her husband was really upset about his upcoming execution and she asked for the guard to give him some time alone. Once the room was checked, it was empty and the Scotsman had gotten away "Scot free"... and that is apparently how the expression came about.

The tour-guide took us to a few locations and then we were left to our own devices to check out the remaining portions of the Tower of London compound. There was a lot of old Royal regalia including old crowns, weapons, jewels, diamond replicas, gowns, armour, gunpowder barrels and so on... all very interesting. Getting around was a little confusing though because you can't just go in through any entrance, you have to go through specific entrances to these buildings, but after a few "No entry" setbacks I started working out how it all works. Lots of steps, so many steps! This city certainly keeps you fit. Well, you get plenty of exercise even if the affordable food isn't always the healthiest. Here's a statue of a lion that I took for Anna - she'll know why. After the Tower of London experience and feeling like money was falling out of my pockets, I went over for a good cheap meal... the Subway sub-of-the-day done as a wrap and loaded with all the salads. A tasty, healthy feed for £2. From there I came back to Earsfield, did a little scout around the main street to see what interesting shops there were and then back to the house. I was the first one back to the house so found it a good opportunity to load the pictures etc. Leanne came home and we had a bit of a chat before she set off for netball practice. She's going to give me a call later and then we'll meet over at her local pub for a brew or two. In the meantime, I'm just listening to the Soho Dolls CD I bought in Greenwich which sounds like it was well worth £9 and in half an hours time I'll be tuning into Phoenix FM to catch Les' radio show.

Greenwich

With the weather looking considerably better today it was time to head off to Greenwich on a boat down the Thames River. The boat set off from Westminster, from where the London Eye, London Aquarium, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament were all visible. Heading eastward, we passed London Bridge, the Tower of London (as shown here) and several other interesting attractions, some of which I'll be seeing closer up as I check them out individually during my remaining week here in London.
As you may know, Greenwich has a silent "w" as do seemingly all English locations that end with "wich"... it now makes me wonder how you're really supposed to pronounce "sandwich"!

Arriving at Greenwich, the first stop was the local Music and Video Exchange where I bought a silly amount of CDs and started to have my first worries about getting it all back to Australia! Thankfully with some creative packing techniques I should be OK, but I think there's still another one or two M&VE's to go so we'll see. The best thing in there that I was excited to get was Performance's Short Sharp Shock CDEP for 50p. I think (We Are) Performance are great so I was pleased to get this, especially considering I was under the impression that it was only released on 7" vinyl. Well there you go.

I had a quick look over the maritime aspects of Greenwich before deciding they were of not much interest and trekking uphill (with a silly amount of CDs slung over my shoulder) towards the Royal Observatory. The gardens on the way through were beautiful and very Autumnal. It was a steep walk up to the Observatory, so I was thankful that one of the first exhibits was a video with animation etc. so it was a perfect excuse to take a seat and rest for a few minutes. Inside the Observatory there were a few astronomical displays, including an old meteorite, and well as a whole lot of interactive stuff. It was nice and informative, but I already knew a lot of the information from countless readings of Arthur C Clarke and other science writers so I just aimlessly absorbed it rather than try to learn anything. There was a section devoted to the history of time somewhere in there but after having done the museum tour yesterday, I've kind of hit a wall in terms of having adequate appreciation for things of importance like this. It was back down (thankfully, down) to Greenwich Pier to get my return ferry. On the way I saw three cheeky squirrels in the park so that was nice. Unlike the one I saw in Edinburgh, I actually managed to get a couple of pictures though they're not great. Tired, I slouched back in the seat on the top deck of the ferry and enjoyed the return trip. We were on a different ferry for the return voyage, which meant I was actually able to get a photo of the earlier vessel, the Mercia, which had now been tied up for the evening. Back to Brixton, and I've loaded the photos onto the computer, burnt them all to CD, sorted out the CDs in a logical way conducive of transport to Leanne and Greg's and then back to Australia. Les is still out from a radio interview he did this afternoon with Steve Lamacq, so hopefully that went alright, and we'll see him back here soon so we can head off for his and Crissi's "thank you" dinner.

Museums

Looking out the window this morning, it didn't seem like a particularly good day for catching a boat down the Thames to Greenwich, so with a bit of itinerary readjustment, I set myself up to go and see some of London's museums. Shortly after deciding to do this I unceremoniously smashed my small toe into one of Les' industrial strength metal cases which wasn't too fun. After a lovely chat on the phone with Stephanie and Bennett, and a cracking organic breakfast courtesy of Les, I set off in the rain for the British Museum. This museum is excellent. It's got old relics from various civilizations, though I don't recall seeing anything Australian there - a couple of boomerangs might have been nice. It also passed what I consider to be a very important test for a museum and that is that the museum itself is actually old. The building itself is very old and beautifully laid out. There weren't too many kids there, despite it being school holidays and a Sunday, presumably because the other museums are of more appeal to the young ones.
I quite liked the South American section with all the various sun gods on the like. I've always quite liked the old South American stylings, though I'm not altogether why. Sure, I love Mexican food, but there's something a little more to it too. Maybe it was from watching Cities Of Gold as a youngster. That really was a great cartoon - fun and educational. The sections on Asia were really good too because there were a lot of Buddha rupas. Most of the ones I took where in portrait mode, rather than landscape, so I won't show any of those ones here because I've not worked out how to rotate images on this computer. So here's Amitabha Buddha (or Amida Buddha in Japanese) who is the Buddha Of Infinite Wisdom and Light according to the Mahayana Buddhist school. Rupas of Amitabha are usually discernable from his chubby cheeks. Walking around the rest of the museum, I had a great appreciation for how old and important the relics were but it was a little bit of an overdose. However, having seen the Buddhist artwork I can now appreciate how people with specific interests must really enjoy the detail and depth of works available at quality museums like the British Museum.

On the way to Holborn station I picked up a cheap lunch at Sainsbury's consisting of a sausage roll and a litre of chocolate milk and trained my way down to South Kensington.
Unlike in Donovan's song, South Kensington was far from sunny today, but I did take Donovan's advice from the song Museum and check out the Natural History Museum. It's a beautiful building, both inside and out and it's got a lot of interesting things on display including this rather large dinosaur skeleton. If there was a downside to it, perhaps it was that I had a feeling I'd seen a lot of similar displays before at different museums and centres in Australia. A lot of the displays were about ecology and the environment so whilst they were really interesting and educational, there was nothing specifically unique about them.

I then set off for the Science Museum and managed to take the longest way possible but eventually got in and as you can see from this picture, also managed to get myself on CCTV (closed-circuit television). CCTV is rather ubiquitous here in London and whilst I quite like the security it affords (or more importantly, a deterrent for idiots who might want to whack you), I can see how people are justified in thinking it's a violation of liberties and an increasing movement towards a police state. Once inside, an Indian feller asked me to take a photo of him so once I'd done that he was happy to return the favour. The Science Museum has a very strange layout and the first parts I saw left me decidedly unimpressed and sometimes going around in circles or walking up stairs that didn't actually go anywhere. However as I came across some of the dodgier and less kid-friendly retro sections I was much happier... such as these polyhedra! There was a lot of interesting stuff including retro computers, space related paraphernalia such as spacesuits, spacefood etc. as well as a whole lot of really detailed displays with gemstones, and the evolution of Earth and its lifeforms. Not all of it was entirely serious, such as this car stuck to the roof, which I hope Bennett will find to be thoroughly hilarious. That sort of stuff appeals to his sense of humour - he finds it amusing to read books upside down and make up silly stories... I wonder what he would make of that car!
There were also displays of aircraft ranging from Wright Brothers style efforts to fighter planes, spitfires and helicopters. They were pretty cool, though my toe was giving me a bit of grief by this time and I wanted a sit. Despite the confusing layout of the Science Museum, I finally found my way through to levels 4 and 5 which were nearly completely devoid of children because they were full of fuddy duddy things. Perhaps my favourite thing of all at the Science Museum was the History of Medicine section which on one level had a whole lot of old-fashioned hospital equipment and on the other floor a series of brilliantly constructed medical scenes, ranging from apothecaries to operating tables, to medieval men trying to surgically remove flint from the brain of one of their colleagues. Some of it was really dark, both in terms of subject matter and lighting but I found it fascinating, which was good because by that stage anything less would have had me heading for the door, or at least a seat. Basically, that was three quality museums and neither cost a penny to get into.

I left the Science Museum after that and via the wonders of the Tube got myself from South Kensington back to Brixton where I've had dinner, put a load of clothes in the washing machine and tied up a few loose ends like charging phones, batteries, the iPod shuffle, paying Les for the new Carter DVD, picking up my ticket for the Brixton show... and of course, updating this blog. The weather looks like being a bit better tomorrow so I should end up in Greenwich after all, even though the markets won't be on. I don't see that being a bit drama though since I didn't even buy anything at Camden Market... where would I put it?!

This little piggy went to market

As I left Les' house this morning, a woman just struck up a conversation with me on the way down to Brixton station. It wasn't about much in particular but she was friendly and it put a smile on my face as I headed into Camden Markets. Crissi warned me that it's incredibly busy there in Summer, but thankfully it wasn't too bad. Most of the stalls seem to be selling t-shirts, clothes, bags, funky crafts, souvenirs and food. It was a pretty happening place, with a few old school punks around, a whole stack of youngsters and even young families with prams.

There was another Music and Video Exchange at Camden so I came out with a whole raft of CDs for just £13. That store is disturbingly excellent, especially at this point in time when the market for CD singles is crashing, and I can get a whole lot of them for really cheap prices. Bear in mind too that these CDs are of particular interest for me because the majority of these singles were never released in Australia because people in Australia tend to have rubbish taste in music. After the market I had a quick walk around the rest of Camden Town and had lunch in Subway, where the old Caribbean guy I ended up sitting next to was coaxing a young guy into buying him a cup of tea. He got his tea eventually, and he was mostly harmless, though sometimes he'd pipe up intoning, "I gots no one, I gots nothing". Despite his lack of meaningful possessions he seemed in pretty good spirits.

Realising that Old Spitalfields Markets had been left off my itinerary on Thursday, I thought I should catch up and find it. Getting off at Old Street (which isn't the closest station, but one that was on my map) I got a little disoriented until a woman at the bus stop was able to show me where we were. Then it was off through the streets of Hackney on the way to the markets. Alas, part of the markets were closed for renovations and I was unable to find the Kinetica Museum which was half the reason I went there. Presumably Kinetica was hidden amongst the redevelopments. The rest of that place was alright but it's obviously been made a bit more posh than it used to be and wasn't really very interesting - it came across as a little sterile.

Now here's something which someone might call sterile, but that I thought was pretty cool. It's a Tesco self-service machine. Basically, you press a button to start and then scan your goods and pop them in a bag, or on the shelf to the left. Once finished, you can pay via card, or do what I did and pay by cash. Thankfully, I only wanted some Tesco's Belgian chocolate milk so that streamlined the process somewhat and I managed to avoid any queues.

I did some more wandering out that end of town, which seemed to be the "business district" of London which was very quiet on account of it being a Saturday. I saw the notorious St. Mary Axe a.k.a. the Gherkin as pictured here (sorry - you'll have to tilt your head to the left to see it). Realising I was a fair way from anything particularly interesting I boarded a train at Aldgate over to Kings Cross, so I could see what it was like. Pet Shop Boys did a song about Kings Cross so I thought it would add to my experience of the song to have a look myself. I've heard it's a pretty dodgy area, but as I was there in the "daylight hours", it wasn't too bad. I had a little giggle there because I realised that after having seen the abominable parts of Glasgow, nothing else would probably ever be "too bad" again. From Kings Cross I could a bus into town, and then caught the Tube back out to Brixton. I had originally planned on going indie clubbing that night but I couldn't be bothered dealing with late night transport so I went indie pubbing instead. The Prince Albert, on Coldharbour Lane, is a nice little pub where I was happy to slowly imbibe a few pints whilst listening to the DJ playing a mix of indie, old school punk, remixes and reggae. Part way through I ducked out for dinner at Speedy Noodle which serves Asian noodle dishes at Australian prices. A good night, and a good night's sleep with.... no coughing! Hurrah! All I've got now is a sore throat and occasional headache, as I couldn't possibly be ailment free on this trip, could I?

Out and about

Last night we went down to Jamm to see Bridport Dagger playing live. One member of the band, Arran, also plays in Abdoujaparov. They were easily the best of the bands on offer and musically were equal parts Joy Division and Nick Cave along with a few other dark elements. Generally unimpressed by the quality of the other bands, Les and I went home and I went to sleep. After a some toast, tea and a nice chat I set off into town to catch up with my friend Michael who used to work at Medibank. We had a couple of pints and lunch over a couple of different traditional English establishments as we talked about various aspects of travelling and his rough plans for the next year or two in London. Alas, I forgot to take my camera out today, but Michael had his so hopefully he can e-mail me a picture or two. I had sausages, mashed potato and peas in (yes, in) a giant flat Yorkshire Pudding. Very filling and very tasty, though the two pints had given a little bit of a headache. I revisited the Music and Video Exchange on Berwick Street, picked up a couple more specials and then, in the absence of anything on the itinerary I commenced random perambulation along some different streets in a rough south-easterly direction before getting on a train at Charing Cross back to Brixton, via Stockwell. As I typed this blog entry, I was listening to an audio recording of the Glasgow show (which is to be used on the upcoming DVD) and it sounded chipper. Not sure if anything's happening tonight, but whether it does or doesn't, I could do with a bit of a rest. So that's what I'll do! Finally, here's a picture of Les' three cats...

Drizzle

Today it drizzled lightly from the moment we left the house until I got back to Chateau Fruitbat. The day started with Les taking me on a slightly more extended tour of Brixton, which as well as taking me past the Post Office again for another "post office run" also included a comprehensive tour of the exotic Brixton Markets and a visit to Brixton Academy where Carter USM are playing live on November 2nd. As you can see from the picture, LCD Soundsystem just played there the other night and apparently it was a top notch gig. Whilst at the Post Office I managed to post a couple of postcards (just one to go).

Our trip rounded off at Rosie's, a little cafe in amongst the markets which Les sometimes uses as an offsite meeting room. We had coffee there and had a lovely chat about Brixton, London, Melbourne, family trees and all other manner of subjects. It was a nice little place with a whole lot of continental foods on offer, and the girl who worked there was very friendly. All too often people working here in London seem a little glum and don't smile, so it was a pleasant change. After Rosie's we went our separate ways, and I headed down to the tube station to trek out to Bethnal Green, home of the Friends Of The Western Buddhist Order (FWBO)'s London Buddhist Centre.
First stop was Wild Cherry, a small vegetarian restaurant which is a FWBO Right Livelihood business. Basically a Right Livelihood business is a co-operative which aims to help Buddhists who work there pay the bills, but also make sure that their work-life is in some way spiritual, and does not cause harm to others. The concept hasn't really taken off much in Australia, but I like the idea. As you can see here, I got the Arabic Casserole, and a mug of hot Apple and Cinnamon drink, both of which were most amenable. The hot drink felt like it was doing wonders for my throat and my chest. I wouldn't mind another one right now actually!

Wild Cherry is right next door to the actual London Buddhist Centre which is the spiritual home of the FWBO. I went in and it's quite a nice little place with a small bookshop, a couple of meeting rooms and a really nice shrine room, as pictured here. That Buddha rupa is pretty big too... certainly larger than life. The man staffing the bookshop was also an amenable fellow who was up for a little bit of a chat about my trip (he was a Carter fan once back in the day) and about the FWBO centres in Melbourne, plus here in London. After getting some photos of the garden area, I set off in the drizzle through the heart of Bethnal Green where there was a street market going on.
Eventually I got to Brick Lane which is a funky little strip. Just off Brick Lane is the famous Rough Trade Records. I had a good look around but left with only a couple of £2 CDs (Saloon and Broken Spindles) from the bargain bin. A little bit of trivia for you... Rough Trade also owns a record label by the same name and a couple of early Carter albums actually came out on Rough Trade Records prior to them being taken on by EMI/Chrysalis. Trekking along then towards Old Street, in search of Smallfish Records, only to find that the location I had for the shop is currently bordered up and says "For Lease". Evidently, I got there a little late! With a bit of spare time on my hands I boarded a train to Oxford Circus in search of Hamleys. One way to explain Hamleys is to imagine a Toys 'R' Us store... replace a lot of the American crap with quality English merchandise, then cut the store up into 6 segments, stack them on top of each other, and then hang crazy stuff all over the place. I was happy in amongst the crowds but I could see some people were getting a bit overwhelmed by it all. It must be madness in there in the lead up to Christmas. All that stock however, and nothing really appropriate for Bennett. I kept on walking to Green Park station and then came back to Brixton. Whilst Hamley's couldn't give me a suitable present for Bennett, the wonder of good old Woolworths shone through and I found Bennett a nifty little Charlie and Lola felt set (a bit like fuzzy felt) which is very flat, so it should fit in the suitcase quite nicely. Back now at Les' with a hot cup of cold weather tea, to fix me up after such a drizzly day. My original plans for tonight were to catch up with Ricardo Autobahn and go see Robots In Disguise and We Start Fires performing live, but he's having car issues and I suspect I won't get a chance to see him before I go. Les has told me about another band playing live within walking distance from the house, so it sounds like a good plan to me. Having lots of fun in London, though I can't believe I've only been here for two days.

Some photos from London

Here's a mix of photos for you... including:

* Les on set at Phoenix FM in Brentwood, Essex

* Donovan and David Lynch live at University of London - this was really good. Donovan's set included hits like Season Of The Witch, Hurdy Gurdy Man, Colours, Catch The Wind, Mellow Yellow, Universal Soldier as well as some lesser known tracks like Sunny Goodge Street, Isle Of Islay, and a song I've never actually heard before.

* The standard photo at Piccadilly Circus which everyone takes

* Some music shops I went to today, and amazingly managed to spend less than £50

* The Ritzy... as name-checked in my favourite Carter song, "And God Created Brixton"









And for anyone who is interested, this is what Les and I played on the radio. My selections have been bolded...

1. Fruity On The Radio
2. 59th St Bridge Song - Patrick & Eugene
3. Goodbye Cruel World - Ikki
4. Nico Man - Gang Gang Dance
5. (In Your Own Words) Chernobyl - (We Are) Performance
6. How Are You - Bombay Bicycle Club
7. Alternate Alf Garnett - Here Comes Trouble (this is actually one of my songs i recorded myself, but someone else requested it!)
8. The Perfect Crime #2 -The Decemberists
9. Ooh (All I Wanted) - Ooberon
10. I Can't Bring The Time Back Misty's Big Adventure
11. Pizza Boy - Jim Bob
12. Anthem For The Modern Artist - Spray
13. Think Fast - Bolt Action Five
14. I Feel It - Lorraine
15. Whip It - Devo
16. Knots - Pete & The Pirates
17. All The Rage - The Royal We
18. White No Sugar - Clint Boon Experience
19. Sixteen - The Indelicates
20. The Day That Thatcher Dies - Hefner
21. Sunday Morning - The Hussy's
22. Xerox - Exile Inside
23. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn & John
24. Political Prisoners - Insurge
25. Battling The Bottle (Fighting the Bulge) - Jim Bob
26. Hold Music - Architecture In Helsinki
27. Temple Head - Transglobal Underground
28. Heaven's At The Bottom Of This Glass - Boo Radleys
29. Alcohol - CSS

Greetings from London

Scott dropped me off at the airport the following morning for my flight down to Heathrow. I was very tired but in good spirits as I arrived at Heathrow and made my way onto the Tube where I got to christen my Oyster Card. I found my way out to Brixton and that place is so unique, very bustling. I'd be guessing that around half the people there are West Indian, and the whole place has an electric vibe to it. Got to Les' place courtesy of the precision of Google Maps and got to meet Crissi who is lovely, and then I started loading songs for Fruity On The Radio onto his laptop, while he finished off some postal orders - his online shop is going great guns selling merchandise and CDs around all the excitement of the two live shows. Les and Crissi's place is brilliant and they make such an excellent couple together. There's Carter memorabilia and photos all over the place. The room that I'm sleeping in has a lot of stuff too, as well as a lot of the merchandise which is getting shipped out a great rate because of the excitement surrounding the two Carter concerts.

We went down the street to do the "post office run" much to the disgruntlement of the woman at the post office who had to sort out a whole swag of t-shirts and mugs. We went off for a meal of bacon, eggs and toast (before getting shooed out because they wanted to close at 5), and then Les gave me a brief tour of Brixton, including the place where the riots kicked off in '95. A little later we set off on a long journey, with plenty of interchanges, out to Essex for the radio show. On the way, I filled out a few postcards for people too young or old to appreciate that a blog is far more informative and interesting than a postcard. So if you're reading this, chances are I'm very proud of your technological prowess and that you don't need a postcard! As for the others, I'd better find a post office so I can send there's off.

I was still coughing a lot when we arrived at the Phoenix FM HQ, but thankfully managed to get through the show without coughing or spluttering once. I got to play quite a few songs and really enjoyed every minute of it. In time, the show will appear as a podcast and I'll put it on line as a link once it's done. Long sleepy trip back, so instead of going back to Brixton via the train, Les recommended we catch the number 35 double-decker out to Brixton. The bus arrived within a couple of minutes and just like Baxendale, we went top deck... right at the front. I got a great view of London Bridge, inner London and other parts of the city that I was unlikely to see otherwise because I'm generally travelling via the tube. When I got back to Les' place I was really tired.

Crissi is a herbalist, so she did me a couple of concoctions to help with my cough, chest and general shabbiness. One was a warm elderberry drink, and once was a tea with sage, basil, peppermint and other goodies in it. I think it helped a bit, because the drinks, combined with a menagerie of syrups, tablets, rubs and inhalers helped me to get a decent nights sleep even though I was still coughing frequently when lying down. Sometimes I feel like a mobile pharmacy.

This morning I set out on the tube to the music shop district in Soho. I managed to spend five or so hours there scouring the music shops picking up some goodies. In fact, I made better progress than originally expected so I now find myself possibly with a bit more free time on Friday, when I plan to catch up with my friend Michael who used to work at Medibank. After that I ambled off to Piccadilly Circus, then through Leicester Square and I'm going to keep going off in the general direction of the University of London for tonight's event (concert isn't quite the right word) featuring David Lynch, Donovan and some other guy. It's an awareness raiser for the idea of using meditation in schools so that modern kids can learn to chill the hell out, not get so angry, not be so bad at school, and actually set themselves up to be decent human beings. The form of meditation they promote isn't Buddhist, but from what I know about it to date, I don't really see anything "unBuddhist" about it. One stop on the way to the University is here... an Internet Cafe. Hence the absence of any photos at this point in time. I'll pop some online when I get some free time at Les's place, in the meantime it's just been nice to have a sit in somewhere that's warm. The Victoria line tube to Brixton is closing a little early tonight, so hopefully tonight's proceedings don't drag on... they shouldn't, and thankfully it starts nice and early at 7:30pm.

Last hours in Edinburgh (so tired)

It's 5am right now and I've had a terrible sleep, maybe gotten an hour at most. My chesty cough and asthma symptoms have gone for the time being... only to be replaced by a persistent dry cough. Dry coughs are always more annoying simply for the fact they seem so utterly pointless. At least you can understand the functional purpose of a chesty cough, but a dry cough just does your head in... especially when it only happens when you're lying down. Sitting here, everything's fine. Lie down and then it's cough, cough, cough. I'm looking forward to buying some dry cough syrup and some Vicks Vaporub, or whatever the local equivalent is. Oh to be in the 24-hour Tesco's right now.

Last night I also took some photos of the Hibernian FC tattoos that Alan and Scott's brother Neil have got.

Here's a picture of them with the dog, Holly.

Finally, got the misfortune of heading to Glasgow any time soon? Try this Glasgow Survival Trainer to see if you'll be able to get in and out without getting punched in the face.

http://www.glasgowsurvival.co.uk/toys/glaSurvivalGame.html

Apparently one member of the Carter forum wasn't so lucky.

P.S. to Mum - No good telling Stephanie all these things... she's just as far away from me as you are. E-mail me on shravaka@gmail.com if you need to.