The other day I was contemplating walking across the road, it was one of those situations where I was close-ish to the crossing light but thought I could just nip across where I was. I noticed a car coming, just one, and it seemed to be going quite fast so I stopped. As it went by me at speed I noticed a young woman was driving and in the back, there was a baby seat with a child asleep. When it reached the crossing, the light was on red and it just tore on through. I was wondering if it would have done that if I had been crossing there instead. Then yesterday I was talking to my mate Derek on the phone in Newport and an SUV zipped past me and went straight through a red light on a particularly dangerous junction at such a speed that if that woman had been coming the other way there would have been a tragic end. Perhaps I notice these things because my father was Merseyside (Liverpool area) Road Safety Officer and responsible for safety campaigns and trying to get drivers to understand that they are driving a weapon. Also responsible for teaching kids to be careful when they cross the road – who remembers The Green Cross Code? And did you know that The Green Cross Code man, David Prowse, was in fact Darth Vader?

Sometimes celebs were involved in my dad’s campaigns and he had one campaign with easy listening star Anita Harris and in our house, there were pictures up of her scantily clad trying to draw attention to road safety issues. My dad was sometimes on television explaining to a journalist about accident black spots, numbers of deaths per year in the area, and what he was doing about it. There was a programme called Granada Reports and one of the presenters was the legendary Tony Wilson. This was of course prior to his involvement with Factory Records. Years later I was at my mate Marc Geiger’s house and guess who was coming to dinner with his girlfriend Yvette – you guessed it. I asked him if he ever remembered interviewing my dad, he didn’t. Most of the dinner he spent complaining about musicians. Sadly he died young, he was just 57.

Warning, mouth paragraph: My mouth seems to be slowly on the mend, or is it? I’m so aware of it now and let’s face it, the mouth is a pretty weird thing, that tongue and those teeth, gums, and the inside of your cheeks and the fact that it’s the main entrance to the inside of your body. The only real way to investigate what’s going on in there is with an exploratory tongue to see if something doesn’t feel right. Having a look in there in the mirror doesn’t tell you much because it’s so, well, fleshy and it’s hard to tell good from bad visually. Pain is the only way to know something is up unless you have a raging gum infection. The salt and water, the mouth wash, the floss, the toothbrush all keep your mouth as clean as it can be if something doesn’t feel right, but you’ll love this: “A typical human mouth contains billions of bacteria. If you haven’t brushed your teeth lately, you might well have more living there right now than there are people on Earth”. Oh, and don’t buy the cheap mouthwash, it’s like swilling your mouth out with petrol.

A beautiful day today and I was happy to jump in the pool after the 20-minute walk from home. The water probably could have done with being a little colder but it was still fine relief. I swam my non-stop freestyle mile and some extras with different strokes to gyrate your arms in other directions. How come I’m always first in and always last out? It was the same in Penzance. I want to use that full hour right to the limit. Afterwards on the walk back I bought some pão da avó at the bakery and back in the kitchen took on the assembly and disassembly of the new juicer. The carrots were on their way out, literally, they were at the door but I managed to talk them back inside and promised to top and tail them, peel them, juice them and drink them. Their leader made me promise and I kept it. I originally bought them around the day I bought the juicer but it’s crazy here in paradise, I don’t have a minute to open a box but I’m glad I did, I lurv freshly squeezed carrot juice and they were happy to be drunk.

Last but not least the pic today is me and James Griffin when I was guesting in his band as one of the Subterraneans.

Music today has been all over the place as usual with Greta Van Fleet’s new album The Battle At Garden’s Gate (2021), tearing it up for Zep and seventies rock fans where at the other end of the scale (sort of), Q readers are smoothly listening to London Grammar’s new album, Californian Soil (2021). In reality, I suppose it’s all rock and pop and that’s been going on like this for a very long time, nothing new but that doesn’t mean it’s not any good, it depends on what you’re after but there are definitely two memorable voices here with Josh Kiszka and Hannah Ried. In between, I listened to my iPod and the double CD The Essential Simon And Garfunkel. I’d been listening to Paul Simon talk about his songwriting and it was quite interesting so I thought I’d listen to a collection. It didn’t get out of the sixties and seventies but there are some memorable songs on there. Mrs. Robinson, The Boxer, Feeling Groovy, The Sound Of Silence, Homeward Bound, A Hazy Shade Of Winter, I Am A Rock, Bridge Over Troubled Water, America, and many more.

Music Of The Daze