Tuesday, 2 March 2010
From a London internet cafe
Kilburn, actually, which inevitably reminds me of Ian Dury's Kilburn and the High Roads (have I got that right?). Years ago a close friend lived here with his then wife, also a close friend. Then came time and tide and, without any arguments, without any hostility, a natural drifting. It's a sad thing. I - like many others, I suppose - have a fantasy of bumping into everyone I ever knew in some unexpected place, though I doubt that is likely to be Kilburn. It has however happened in London and Paris so anything is possible.
It's a busy time coming up. Having read in York and London on Saturday and Sunday respectively, I am reading here tonight, then in Thursday in Sheffield, and the following week in London and Leeds. Tonight is WordPLAY, surrounded by poets who are probably younger than my children. But then most of the world seems to be the age of my children.
It's just darkening here. Tomorrow is a clutch of meetings back in Norfolk. All work no play makes Jack a busy boy.
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I've had Dury saying "Ain't half bin some clever bastards" going through my head for days (= repeated bouts of giggling at random moments in embarrassingly inappropriate places) and I'm pretty sure it's the High Roads, yes. But "Bastards" was the Blockheads of course. And Kilburn High Road still has all the Dury atmosphere, which is more than you can say for e.g. Kensal Green.
I liked the feel of Kilburn while I was there. Arriving early I thought I'd eat while I had the chance so wandered into a kebab place just a few doors down from the venue and watched people come and go. Mostly in their thirties, I'd say. Quite a few students possibly, part of the transience of local life, and the more permanent local life too. The Internet cubby hole I sat in was not too different from its doppelganger in Mumbai. Kilburn looked like a place that might have rough edges but I'd feel at home in. In effect it felt better now than it did those years back.
What a great band the Blockheads were (and probably still are).
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