My Generation - September 08 2002

08.31 am It has been raining again, and the Longhair came in quite
wet and had to be dried off with toilet paper. He mews when he is wet
from being out in the rain. I think because he has long fur he hates
more than other cats do when they get wet. I am listening to "Sticks
and Stones" by New Found Glory.

Yesterday (07) was another good day. I woke up at 6.15 as I had a lot
of stuff to do before I went to London. I fed the cats and they didnt
waste anytime in eating the food put out for them. I wrote up my online
journal, then went through emails I had. Then I had a quick look in the
forum. The trolls are restless they feel the wind of change, the
threads have been somewhat anarchic last week and I seriously doubt
they will continue the way they have. Something better change.

I played guitar. Both the Telecaster and the Gretsch sound great on the
new Marshall amp, I have figured that the other amp sounds better when
cranked up, but if I take it beyond 4 the room will begin to vibrate.
Then I fed my Mum and Dad's cat and then bought 40 Rothmans in the
newsagent, then dropped back home the keys to Mum and Dads so my wife
can feed Bertie this evening. I also copied a CD of my friend's band,
which I took with me to Leigh along with the garage punk compilation
and a copy of the Alkaline Trio's debut for the girls in Gum. They
liked the band CD and also the Alkaline Trio. I suggested that they
could make the shop a head shop and post up a list of local band's gigs
due up in the next few weeks. Or even a cork noticeboard so people
could leave messages to each other. All our town needs now is a decent
music shop selling guitars, bass drums and amps and then maybe we can
get the revolution on the way, and a decent radio station as well
playing music people want to here rather than dance music all the time.
I even thought of a name for it "Freeway Radio". Then you could have
"Freeway Sessions" of local bands and stuff. I guess it would need
sponsorship, well maybe local breweries could help there, I am not
sure. If I had ?8,000,000 I think I know what I'd do with it.

I bought a sweater in Gum which I wore out of the shop, maybe next week
I will find a t shirt there that actually fits. I went in Ugos and met
my wife and had a latte and a chargrilled chicken baguette for lunch.
Then I walked to the station and had to run to get the train. I rang
Kit but then messaged her, then when I got to London I helped a foreign
couple find the way to the underground station. The bloke was quite old
and his English was okay but simple. He said "Underground?
Hammersmith?" and I knew what he meant. I got my travel card and got
the tube to Monument. You have to walk a bit to get the Northern from
Bank but it is not that far, so I am in Camden at last and there is a
policeman watching all the young punks come streaming out of the
station. I walked up towards the Lock and stopped outside the market
there and I heard a great version of 'My Generation' being played, so I
had a look and it was an Oasis special CD from a French TV show and the
song was good, so I bought the CD, and then I found a place selling
Clash neckerchiefs so I bought a black one for myself and a red one for
my wife, as she doesn't have one. I took off the sweater and then
trundled up to the Man In The Moon. I met with G, JT and V and no sign
of anyone else just yet. G and V had lunch and JT gave me a CD to look
at later. I had a smoke and drank my lemonade. PJ arrived and said she
had been mugged the previous night near Holborn. She was really pissed
off about this. She also got a tad annoyed about being constantly told
not to smoke in the non-smoking area of the pub. K and H arrived a
little later and we all sat and chatted. We talked about the forums at
length. We know TC is not happy right now. But, we also think the
current state of affairs is going to change. The abctales is bigger
than the sum of its constituent parts.

PJ left about 5.50 with some money from us and a little while later H
went as well. That left the original four, and then V's phones were
discovered missing but there was nothing on camera, they were pay as u
go but thats not the point. G had his cameras and took some snaps and a
movie. They left leaving K and I talking about writing and K was fine,
he told me that he kept a diary some years ago and how useful it was
for writing as a reference. I can see his point. We trundled back to
the tube station and I went to Bank and K went to Piccadily because Our
Price was open there (Virgin was shut in Camden). I got the train home
and rang Kit for the journey when I was on the train, despite losing
all network between West Horndon and Laindon. I got in at 9.45 and my
wife had taken out "Monsters Inc" to watch. I went online quickly and
did a couple of emails then we watched the film, which was good, except
my wife was tired so she missed the first hour of the film and lost the
thread of the plot. When the film finished I went back on line and
chatted to one of my new friends from NME. She had had some personal
hassle and I think it helped that she could tell someone about
it.

That's what friends are for, people you can talk to when you feel down
or you need somebody to talk to about stuff. Or just to chat.