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ay that you can t do the following things all at once they don t work well together listening to a podcast with corded earphones wearing a mask that has loops around your ears wearing hoop earrings having newly straightened now long hair i honestly don t know what i was thinking but the combination of these four things involved a disproportionate amount of faffing and then when the cord of my earphones got caught under the arm of the seat as i stood up it pulled nearly all those things off my head at once i think i still have a bit of whiplash 3 sometimes memories are more romantic than reality a i alighted at bankside and managed to get my umbrella open and in one piece ish again i couldn t wait to take the wonderful walk past shakespeare s globe theatre gazing at the changing tides of the thames st paul s in the distance before walking past the tate modern through a stylish richard rogers designed complex and on up to the office but to be honest it s not that much fun when it feels like someone s walking alongside you pouring a bucket of water over your head all the way the rain was relentless and sometimes horizontal matched only apart from the horizontal bit by my determination to stop the rift between the two halves of my umbrella add to that puddles that required a diving suit and snorkel to get through and you ll understand the walk wasn t as much fun as i d hoped it would be oh and i didn t even see if st paul s was still there i think it is though i d know otherwise right b in my previous commuting life i had a regular morning stop at a coffee shop a few blocks from the office i got to know the server there she was a delightful and chirpy chatty young person who got to know me my reusable cup and my usual order we d chat about our various interests she knew i was writing a book and i knew she loved writing poetry i think up poems when i m out and about and i don t always remember them she told me one morning can t you use a notes app on your phone i asked i don t have that kind of phone she said i bought her a notebook so she could write down her poems the day i gave it to her turned out to be my last day of work in central london before lock down i d written a note in the front of the notebook encouraging her creativity she loved it and wanted to hug me to say thank you but we couldn t the coffee shop is still open but it s somehow lost the charm it had before when i got there yesterday i looked through the window from under my broken umbrella and the unfamiliar face behind the counter pointed at her watch and told me they weren t yet open i went back a while later and she had no recollection of the person i d met there last year she must have been a temp i don t know anyone of that name she said with little interest in me or my usual order shradha if you re out there i hope you re still writing your poetry you brightened my mornings last year 4 make sure your backpack s waterproof i got to the office and to my assigned desk now called a docking station i peeled my soaking jacket off and tried to stop my sopping trousers from sticking to my legs i took my notebooks out of my backpack and both were sodden so my backpack like my umbrella wasn t waterproof and when i went to the bathroom later i saw it wasn t only my notebooks that had gone curly and weird from the rain my previously straightened and still long hair had done the same oh another lesson i learnt don t forget to take a hairbrush with you i spent the whole day with what looked like a long damp shaggy carpet on my head 5 it s weird the things you miss about the office i had a number of teams meetings online yesterday and in almost every one of them my colleagues working from home said how they missed the trees they could see through the window behind my docking station and they cooed to see trains going past in the distance too at least that kept their gaze away from my weird looking hair silhouette on the other hand i loved being able to see some colleagues and the office again in 3d and being able to chat to colleagues from merely walking distance away there was a bit of shouting because of the distance and the masks but still 6 london is still amazing it was sad to see how many shops had closed since i d last been in central london and the amount of empty office space but i was encouraged to see places that were still open and some signs of the buzzing central london that i know and love a few blocks from the office i stopped when i saw a group of people standing together posing under see through umbrellas i didn t want to walk into their photo so when they started walking i did too and walked straight into their film shoot i hadn t seen the camera crew under the arches around the corner it ll be easy to spot me in the midst of that group i m the one with a broken umbrella i was glad the rain had ended when i left the office at the end of the day as my broken umbrella had now been assigned to the bin i m sure i ll get used to commuting again i will grow to love going into london on the boat again and i will get a new umbrella but i probably should have put in some practice before yesterday my shoulders still feel tense today i m not sure if that s from the weight of my backpack the incident with my earphones or the tension from gripping my umbrella one thing s for sure my wednesday hair appointment can t come quickly enough sunshine signing off for today share this share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading author sunshineinlondon categories commuting in london exploring london humour living in london london south african in london sunshine in london uncategorized posted on june 19 2021 june 19 2021 1 comment two sirs with love it was beneath a warm tuscan sky in july that we took our seats for the second gig of the 19th lucca summer festival it was surreal in so many ways our seats were in the front row the outdoor venue piazza napoleone in the heart of the historic walled city was magnificent we were on our first ever trip to italy and we were about to see two legends on stage sir van morrison and sir tom jones i was lost for words the couple sitting next to us arrived shortly after we did she was beside herself and i couldn t help but engage with her while we were there for van morrison she and her reluctant partner were there to see tom jones i don t know what it is whenever i see him i just go funny all over he doesn t have to sing or anything just looking at him i just go all funny i ve never known anything like it he doesn t like it she said pointing to her disengaged eye rolling partner on the dot of 8 30pm van morrison and his band opened the show with the beautiful and lyrical moondance with characteristic lack of engagement with the audience van moved on to the way young lovers do and magic time with its superb trumpet solo he followed with by his grace someone like you the romance in both the melody and lyrics floor me as did the performance of van s stunning backing vocalist dana masters whenever god shines his light a fabulous remix of have i told you lately and wild night i ve learnt that when van picks up his harmonica he starts to play it upside down he did so and remedied it quickly in the intro to the stunning enlightenment and again enthralled with his saxophone in little village it was at this point that my neighbour demonstrated what going all funny meant she jumped six inches off her seat her legs went flying and kicking and she screamed spontaneously she was the first of thousands to scream in adoration as sir tom jones strode across the stage in front of us to join his good friend van for what am i living for it was sir tom who introduced their second number this is one we actually recorded together sometimes we cry sir tom left the stage and van picked up the pace with a medley of baby please don t go don t start crying now and as the light began to fade here comes the night he followed with the lilting and romantic in the afternoon ancient highway raincheck before strapping on his guitar for the beauty of the days gone by why must i always explain and think twice before you go van took his cordless mic and i knew the end of his set was in sight not before the popular brown eyed girl and help me a quick thank you and he walked off the stage he responded to the audience s applause and imploring screams to come back and we leapt to our feet to his rousing signature encore gloria van briefly thanked his band and at 10pm left the stage i often listen to van and on such wonderful occasions as this watch him and wonder where the music comes from where does he find it that depth of passion and emotion his words reflect deep deep feelings and he writes extraordinary awe inspiring music to express it i don t go all funny when i see van but when i listen to his music he reaches me in places i didn t know could be reached his gift is astonishing his music sublime he speaks a lot about transcendence i think i m getting to understand just what he means it was 10 30pm the beautiful lucca night was gently cooling and sir tom walked on to the stage with his fabulous band after a moving burning hell he greeted the audience in tom style everybody feeling all right are we gonna have a good time he talked about his years in las vegas in the 60s and introduced his next song run on i used to spend time with elvis presley after the shows we d sing all night well he did and i d listen he loved gospel music bless him i learnt a lot from him his huge band backed him with enthusiasm a huge amount of fun and jolly fine music we couldn t take our eyes off the horn section the saxophone trumpet and trombone tuba players the three excellent musicians who sang danced and interpreted the lyrics in such a spirit of fun were a delight to watch sir tom followed with the popular hit or miss mama told me not to come didn t it rain and the wildly funny inducing sex bomb grazie he yelled to the audience we responded loudly with screams and whistles after a brief nod to the recent wins of his much adored welsh football team he talked about his late wife when i used to make a new album i d bring it home and play it for my wife linda she always had a favourite song this was hers on my new album the long lost suitcase after a beautiful and emotional tomorrow night he said ok well here s a happy song a delightful and high energy raise a ruckus drew huge applause and a huge yeah from the 76 year old legend take my love i want to give it all to you led into the new latin esque delilah this got his band dancing and the entire audience singing i love lucca it s humid and that s good for the voice that s why italy has so many good singers and why wales does too the soul of the man followed then elvis presley blues a haunting tribute to elvis written by gillian welch the tower of song and green green grass of home and a samba version of it s not unusual were followed by a raunchy you can leave your hat on between each number sir tom yelled yeah we responded yeah so he yelled oh yeah come on after if i only knew sonny boy williamson s early in the morning offered each of sir tom s band members a chance in the spotlight as i wish you would ended tom left the stage and the audience screaming whistling and shouting for more it was past midnight and sir tom and his band came back on stage for thunderball with a collage of bond movie clips on screen behind them the beautiful kiss a gracious tribute to the genius that is prince was followed by a song that tom described as rock n roll blues gospel with some boogie woogie on the side an extraordinarily arranged strange things happening every day showcased his band s energy and depth of talent and ended the evening on a high sir tom jones to the adoring screams of thousands of devoted and a whole lot of new fans assembled his band members he introduced each fondly and then thanked the audience it s because of you that we do what we do thank you and god bless you the two sirs the two legends have 146 years between them the two friends with two hugely differing styles gave us four hours of musical magic it really was one hell of a gig share this share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading author sunshineinlondon categories open air concerts sunshine in london tom jones van morrison posted on july 31 2016 july 31 2016 2 comments he s the soul man we nearly didn t see gregory porter i d booked our tickets in july last year and as the april date grew imminent i realised i d noted the date incorrectly i m so glad we didn t miss out it was a privilege and a joy to experience an evening of beautiful jazz delivered by the soul man nashville based singer songwriter kandace springs opened the concert showcasing songs from her new album soul eyes she also shared a beautiful cover of roberta flack s the first time ever i saw your face porter s band took the stage to an enthusiastic welcome pianist double bass player saxophonist trumpeter hammond organist and drummer welcomed the nattily dressed hat wearing gentle giant to the stage with beautiful music gregory porter opened with holding on from his upcoming new album take me to the alley when the audience responded with appreciative applause and whistles he introduced his band throughout the evening he shared the stage generously with his band he stepped out of the spotlight at every instrumental solo and never failed to show appreciation for his band and so he should they were a superb match for his liquid velvet voice on my way to harlem was his second number porter clicks his fingers through every song feeling every beat every nuance every note after some gentle scatting he brought the number to a close before moving on to the beautiful illusion there s a lot of trouble in the land he reflected before introducing his next number at the end feel free to join in with me but not until the end i love you but i don t want to hear you he said the son of a preacher mother took us to church and brought us back into the room with no love dying we joined in at his command at the end and he seemed pleased with our performance there s a good vibe in here tonight he encouraged us to clap to the rhythm of our hearts in liquid spirit porter moved across the stage taking his mic stand with him the song featured an insane piano solo and an equally insane drum solo the lyrically and melodically exquisite hey laura followed before another clearly personal track from his new album don t lose your steam boy you hear me calling your name the bridge is your time your engine rolls hot if the bridges fall down don t lose your head of steam i wrote that for my thre...