I got an email from the record store saying the new Julia Jacklin album, Pre Pleasure, had arrived. So I got up, had breakfast and strode down into town with giant strides, trying to get there and back as quickly as possible, because today is September 1st and the pool/gym has reopened. I’d packed my bag the night before so I was ready to scoop it up and get there to start back on the immortality run. I managed to make it down there quite quickly but when I got there José told me that one of the elusive Mars Volta reissues, Noctourniquet (2021), had also arrived. I also took the opportunity to buy a brand new copy of Todd Rundgren’s Runt. The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren (1971), a great album for a decent price. Time in record shops stands still. So, next stop, the pool/gym, no, not a chance.

Tubitek, the record store is a block away from the music store, so I always look in on the way home. On the door was a ‘closed’ sign (lunch I guess) but I could see Carlos and Pedro inside, jamming. They saw me and unlocked the door, let me in and gave me a guitar, Pedro got onto some kind of drum. So for all the rush, suddenly I was in a jam sesh. When ‘lunch’ was over they opened the door to the people waiting outside. In came Helena, Olivia’s Portuguese teacher who lives in Barcelona. Small world, more delay.

I went by the coffee shop, big queue, and more delay but I ran out with a takeaway coffee for me and a queijada de amêndoa for Olivia (I call it an almond flying saucer). Up the street the Indian man who runs one of the souvenir shops and the place where I get my bulk Nag Champa boxes was outside, I always chat to him about cricket and he told me about India’s victory over Pakistan and I told him about the latest on the England/South Africa series. More delay, time is flying by.

I finally made it to our front door and looked in my bag for my keys, they weren’t there. I looked in my record bag, they weren’t there either. Oh no, please don’t tell me I lost them. The outer front door was open so I was able to get into the building, I got in the lift, got to our door and rang the bell, Olivia answered the door and I said, “Please tell me I left my keys here?” – “These?” she said. I picked up my pre pleasure prepared gym/pool bag and finally I was on my way.

I’d already walked into town and back, jammed, bought stuff, chatted, queued and my walk to the pool/gym was slower than I wanted, but eventually, I got there. In reception there were 20 people, it’s the first day of registering after the summer closure. I noticed they had numbered queue tickets in their hands. A dog was lying on the floor whimpering, an old lady was telling him/her to be quiet. At first, I thought the hand sanitiser machine was the ticket machine, I’ve never taken a ticket here before. A woman in the queue pointed to where it was and as I approached it, Vera and Tânia, the sisters on reception, called me and opened the gate and let me in, it’s great to be a regular. We’ll sort out the re-registering later, I was in.

Upstairs in the gym, I did a mellow workout and had my usual great chat with Ricardo the trainer about the state of the transfer market and the performance of the Premier League teams. I pushed on some machines, struggled, ran, biked and watched MTV, but kept it short, I had to get back for a Noelle sesh in Montreal at 5.30. So much for hitting the shops on the way home. I got in at 5.32.

I whatsapp’d Noelle, told her I was going to be late, I was starving but I made it for 6 PM. I had to stop at 7 PM for NJ Brian but he too was running late and by the time he realised he was not going to make it, it was fifteen minutes before Leicester/Man U. I started to watch it and then got my ‘eye thing’, what a day. Leicester lost 0-1, out with the CBD oil and the 500g Paracetamol. As my vision returned, the game ended, we ate and we watched two episodes of Elementary and then it was time for Venus and Serena, they lost. I looked at the clock and realised that this was about the time last night that I broke my tooth, but that’s another story.

Music today was another Olivia favourite (and mine), a regular in our house, Genesis‘ Foxtrot (1972).

Music Of The Daze