Living in England

"Sitting in the sun in England..."

Well, today the weather wasn't too bad - clear skies and there was a bit of sun! Amazing!

Tues 6 Dec

Woke up early to meet Andrew Swan at the Tooting Bec tube station. Was a bit late but it didn't matter cos he was too. His wife was sitting her final exam that morning. He drove us straight to SW19 - Wimbledon grounds! Mad! He's quite the tennis fan and even worked there in his youth as a cover puller when it rained.

Andrew Swan.

We were just in time for a tour (£6.50 which he kindly paid for) and it turned out it was just the two of us with the guide! The place is quite different during the winter time plus they're doing some kind of building works so there were heaps of workmen, etc. around - but it was still a very special place. Magical...

Entrance to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (also known as Wimbledon!), and a replica of the men's singles trophy.

He took us all around to the new Court 1, show courts, Henman Hill (or is that Murray Mountain now??), through the halls, into the media room where they do press conferences (I got to sit in the chair that the players sit in - mad!) and, of course, the magical Centre Court. Even when it was empty and with and electric fence surrounding the lawn to keep wild foxes away, there was still an eerie atmosphere and you could almost feel the many years of history seeping in. Also bought a mad towel from the gift shop for £25.

Show Court 1, me and Andrew less than 3m from Centre Court (and the electric fence constructed specifically to keep us out!)

Next we looked for a place to have lunch. First we went to a pub called the 'Leather Bottle' however we quickly leaved after discovering that the was an overpowering stench of urine inside. So we went to a pretty fancy Italian restaurant Pomino. I had a Caeser salad entree and spaghetti ragu which Andrew also paid for (£10.50). It was very nice and the service was quite good. Also had some nice Italian beer, Peroni (I'll have to remember that when I go to Italy), which Swan drank from a wine glass as is his custom.

Me on 'Henman Hill', and me sitting at the players' interview desk in the press conference room!

We chatted for a while about all kinds of stuff, including some of the mad adventures he and my dad and uncle got up to 25 years ago - funnies! Funny guy. After, he took me back to the station and I caught the tube back to the studio.

The British Museum

Then I went to check out the British Museum which isn't to far away - massive! In the end, I spent a few hours there even though some sections I glossed over. It was mad though - saw exhibitions from: Islam, Mesoamerica (Maya), Nth America (Innuit), Ancient Greek & Roman, Egyptian, Asia (China, India, Korea) and Africa.

'He chose.....poorly...', and a life-sized human skull made from rock crystal

The highlight was probably seeing the actual Rosetta stone which was sitting in the Eqyptian exhibit, though there were a lot of interesting things around. Walked back home through a light shower - the first rain since I've been here.

The Rosetta Stone, some dude's sarcophagus, Vishnu (nah, I don't know who it is - but it is an Indian deity) but the last one is Ganesh!

Got to the studio about 5:30 to find two of Stipo's friends already there ready to do a 'session' with Stipo. Toby, a classic straight out of 'The Chap Manifesto' who goes under the name of 'The Squire' and aims to produce only high art and would rather be penniless and starve than be paid to make crap, throw-away music, and Steve, who is gay (not that there's anything wrong with that!). Really good guys - a lot of fun. Together they are 'Fort Lauderdale' and I think they do sort of dance/house music that is a bit more 'underground'.

Roman statue, one the giant statues from Easter Island, a freaky golden Buddha, and a tree made entirely from old guns from Africa.

Right ladz, dis waz my furst real time 'anging about wiv da geezers, kno wot I mean? Alright innit?. Smashing! Jolly good!

Nah, they don't really talk like that - but it was quite spectacular, not grim.

Soon Stipo turned up and I was privy to the creative process. They were working on a track they had to get it ready for a female singer to come and record. [It was funny watching Stipo get stacks of emails from singers sending in their demos trying to work with him and him just cutting them down completely!] It started with brandies for all, then a fair amount of procrastination and green mint tea before they got to adding in a 'breakdown' between verses and chorus. Then they started brainstorming for possible lyrics. Man, the amount of times they twisted and changed what the whole song was going to be about! Then it somehow got onto mad Old Robbing it up (to the extreme though!) and for inspiration they headed to the internet (where else!? Good ol' Google!) and found themselves reading a blog some seriously hardcore jacks wrote about their experiences with various 'substances' (similar in a way to PIHKAL - actually, they found their way there too!) - particularly one called DOC. Good God!

Though it wasn't that exciting (I actually really wanted to sleep but had to wait!) I was too worn out to go somewhere else - walking around and sightseeing really takes it out of you! I get so tired around 6-7pm (might be to do with the sun setting at 3:3pm + jet lag too). But especially with my blisters of death - the idea of more walking didn't really appeal to me as much as resting. So, I'm really yet to have some gum - which is a shame but hopefully I get the chance before I leave.