Not quite Guy Fawkes, not quite Hallowe'en

I was always under the impression that November 5th was Guy Fawkes Day, and time for the fireworks and bonfires, but it seems like here in London the nearest weekend is good enough... the same seems to applies for Hallowe'en and there were a lot of parties happening this night. So after an afternoon nap to recover from the Carter gig it was time to wake up for fireworks! Greg had picked up this stash of fireworks at Tesco's and it was great watching him trek out into the yard in his Uncle Fester gear to set off the fireworks. He had little rockets, a catherine wheel and a whole of lot of other assorted firecrackers that pop, cracked and whizzed with reckless abandon. The sound of fireworks has been rather ubiquitous over the last few days and it was even moreso with Greg's contributions. Out in the backyard, it was also time to take a photo of (L-R) Nicky, Greg, Leanne and Celine, all decked out in their Addams Family outfits... pretty impressive, and apparently they had a good night.

I on the other hand had alternative plans, because I was going to a Hallowe'en fundraiser for Antenna Studios out in Crystal Palace. Antenna Studios is where Carter did their rehearsals for their recen shows, and they were holding this event in an effort to raise some money for a grand piano to include in the rehearsal studios. When I arrived, Jim was already there with his daughter Holly and girlfriend Jakki. After grabbing a Red Stripe I had a bit of chat with them and it was really nice to have a chat with Jim in slightly more low-key environment. Marc Ollington and his wife turned up, as did Les, Crissi and a group of others who had come along to the fundraiser with him. The event itself was a little disorganised, and Jim didn't go on for about an hour after he was scheduled to go on, but it gave a useful opportunity for a little photo opportunity with my two favourite musicians... a really special moment for me. When Jim did eventually hit the stage, he played a good selection of tunes acoustic-style. This included some Carter classics, a few songs from Jim's Super Stereoworld (his now defunct post-Carter band) as well as some of his finest solo material, including a few new songs off his forthcoming album. At the end of one of the new songs called God's Blog, "Paul Davy's blog" got a quick passing mention. It's nice to know this blog has had such a diverse array of readers! The set was punctuated by a fireworks display going off just outside the window and a broken guitar string which led to some entertaining impromptu ad-lib.

Alas, because of the delay in Jim Bob going on stage, I'd missed my train back from Crystal Palace and was going to find it difficult to get back to Earlsfield. Luckily Les was still around (and tired and wanting to go home) so because he knew where he was going I thought I would go with him back to his place in Brixton. So a posse of about 10 of us boarded the number 3 train to Brixton and Les made the trip really meaningful for me by giving me a guided tour of the bus route which included the estate he grew up in, the hall he saw his first live band, where his shool was, where his dentist was, (roughly) where Jim lives, a church which is referenced in a Carter song, the "murder mile", the spot where Les and Jim were mugged a few years ago, and where one of his childhood friends lived.

Once arriving at Les' place, we all had a cup of tea but some of us were tired, so some of the people went to their homes and the rest of us crashed at Les's. I slept on the couch from 2 to 9 and had a reasonable sleep. After another cuppa and another chat I set off back to Earlsfield, where I arrived at noon, because of some delays caused by closures on the Victoria tube line. As I arrived I was happy to see Leanne had only just woken up as I knew I hadn't missed out on anything by not rushing back.

After a tasty lunch of steak rolls, we headed belatedly down to Brighton to check out Brighton Beach. It's an interesting "beach", because as you can see there's not actually any sand there! What there is however is a wonderful pier, loaded with lots of tasty (read: sugary and fatty) treats and amusements. I had fun watching Greg ride a motorbike simulator and we all had a turn at an interesting fish-racing game, where by getting balls into holes of different points, your fish moves a certain distance. Leanne, Greg and myself were all too busy trying to get the balls into the holes to watch the actual race but according to the commentary, Greg just beat me at the post, so it looked like we had the 1-2 placing an Leanne was guaranteed a stuffed shark toy. By this time it was getting late so we wanted to head off but because of traffic conjestion it wasn't as easy as it sounded. Once we hit the motorway all was well until traffic stopped again because of a traffic accident that had traffic banked up at least 8 miles. Greg put his satellite navigation system to great use and found us an alternative route which allowed us to get back to Earsfield in a reasonable time. He's now in the kitchen preparing his legendary spaghetti bolognese and I can hear bowls moving so I'd better finish off now! This will be my last post until I get back to Melbourne, so depending on who you are.... I'll very soon be saying "hello" or "goodbye"! Wish me a good flight...