Two more from September

Thursday 21st September
Dear Chum,

Good to hear from you again. I am well, thank-you. I went to see 'Life of Galileo' with Phil last night. A very strong production of an under-rated play but quite long at three and a quarter hours. David Hare’s adaptation stripped all the Brechtian elements from the core text and so it was far more naturalistic than I had anticipated. If you get a chance to see it, do though. Simon Russell Beale is excellent in the title role and you do come away feeling you know an awful lot more about the why the Reformation gathered pace so quickly in the early part of the sixteenth century.

Also from a cultural perspective, I saw Shawn Colvin on Monday at the Bloomsbury and she was great: just her and her acoustic guitar singing songs of regret and telling gossipy stories about being a back-up singer with Suzanne Vega in the 1980s and arguing over whether a guitar tuner is necessary or not with Sting: "Did Ornette Coleman use a tuner? Did Bob Dylan use a tuner? What's wrong with ya?". Finished with a fantastically emotional rendition of The Bee Gee’s ‘Words’ which also closes her very fine new album ‘These Four Walls’. A top evening as the support act (Sons of Jim: two men, one guitar, and some strong tunes including a Ben Folds cover) were very good too.

Thanks for asking after my offspring. OD has (he says, fingers crossed) been into school every day this week thus far. She finishes early today as tonight is open evening and therefore also doesn't have to be in until 10:00 tomorrow. I can't stay at home that late in the morning so I am only hoping she doesn't blow it on the final day. She is staying at her Mum's house on Friday (first time since she started living with me), as is Chris. She may be consciously trying to give me a break but that could just be wishful thinking on my part. She is certainly 'loved-up' at the moment. In fact, I am wondering whether Chris is the good influence on her regarding her school attendance or if she has finally realised that she is now so far behind if she does fudge about then her mocks are going to be even worse that I fear. She’s sill a bit on the gobby side mind you, but sometimes we will talk for a minute or two and I actually feel like I have a proper relationship with her - which is, of course, very nice.

YD is fab and looking forward to her birthday next month (not least because I’m buying her a PSP). Did I tell you she is now 5' 8" and still only 12? I think she worries that she might not stop growing and end-up a giant. She remains a fantastic soul and still spends every weekend with me, which as far as I’m concerned is great. Won’t last too much longer though. Another couple of years and she’ll be wanting to stay in WG with her mates whilst OD will be out and about even more than she already is.

On other news, Lou is about to start-up her own prosecution business and Mr M is coming over tonight to quiz me about what I used to do for a living. On Tuesday I'm meeting my old PhD supervisor for a beer after he's given a paper at the Globe so it will be nice to catch-up with him. Work is very VERY busy. My horoscope today reads 'a certain tension is building and the theme here really is change or bust'. It certainly feels like that right now. I’ve always felt like the proverbial square peg to the round hole that is the IB, but these days I look in the toilet mirror at work and see this middle-aged, grey haired be-suited man I barely recognise staring back and wonder how on earth I ended-up doing what I do for a shilling. It was never in plan A (musician) or plan B (lecturer) or indeed any plan that I ever conjectured even in my quietest or most creative moments. Life has a tendency to overtake you and the grand schemes of tomorrow become the failed plans of yesterday before you even realise that the night has passed. In a blink I shall be too old to plan anything and my fear is that I’ll look back at my life and think “well, that was a complete bloody waste of time”.

Sorry – there I go again: miserable as buggery. Keep well and I’ll write again soon.

DK



Tuesday 26th September
And it was all going so well! OD was in school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week. Could she make a full run for the first time since Lawd alone knows when? Could she? Of course not; how foolish of me to think that she might. And she didn’t go on Monday either, but her bunking was somewhat more elaborate. Get this - she actually got up, got dressed and left the house with me. I pootled on ahead and the moment I turned the corner and was on my way to the station she turned around and went back home. (She never walks with me, just like she’ll never sit and watch a DVD with me. Or, if she had her way, actually talk to me. I’m surprised she hasn’t learnt sign language). “I went back to bed because I was so tired’ she said - well that’s what happens when you spend the entire weekend partying all night and kipping all day. “I went in this afternoon though, except I didn’t bother to register”. Of course you did dear. You went to school but because you didn’t register they will have no record of you attending. Do you think I live on planet stupid? I don’t suppose, by any stretch of the imagination, you could have bunked off, met your boyfriend and spent the day with him? No, surely no. Never!

Leaving for work this morning with OD (and this time I knew she was going into school because she was so grumpy) I said to her: “I realised something last night. I try and treat you like a grown-up (this is because I believe her to be an intelligent, articulate individual who deserves her independency] whilst you treat me like an arsehole”. She just grunted. Actually, she may have told me to p*ss off – she does that a lot too. But at least she went in.