Just three days left before this is the place that we used to live in. Consequently, yesterday and last night we were packing till the early hours as we had Pedro and Carolina coming over to help with the car. But tragedy struck, Pedro hit himself in the eye with the carpet when he picked it up and had to go to the hospital where he found out that he had scratched the cornea, just a freak accident. Carolina dropped off one load but it was all about Pedro and the priority of getting him seen. As it happened I got talking to Thales who lives in the building. He’s an industrial maintenance technician from Rio de Janeiro and despite him not speaking English and me not speaking Portuguese (especially Brazilian Portuguese which sounds very different and has different words), we found our way in Spanish, sort of. He offered to help us, three loads later and figuring out how to get a big desk in a small car he really was a massive help. We called a large Bolt too and he took shelves and the legendary red chair, super helpful. Hopefully, now we just have two or three carloads left. Thinking of Pedro but England here we come at 12.30 PM, March 1st, Porto to Gatwick, uneasyjet.

It’s a bit weird putting everything into the new place when there’s no electricity. We can only be there in the daylight, there’s no loo because there’s no water. We also don’t have a kitchen table and chairs yet and we have to get rid of the graffiti at the front, that’ll be fun. I’ll be much happier when we have an alarm and a new security gate. As it fills up there it empties here and it’s strange to see this place as a sparse Airbnb in contrast to how it was when we lived here. I’m not sure who the landlord thinks is going to come and live here full time as we did – the Airbnb is probably seasonal, or maybe not in Porto.

I missed the League Cup Final, Man U beat Newcastle 2-0 apparently. I purchased NOW TV especially to watch it but couldn’t because of today’s commitments and time is running out. Also, it seems like it’s struggling to stream properly. I’ll stick with it for a month or two and see how it is with the whizz kid fibre optic internet at the new place that will be installed on April 3rd…if we have electricity that is.

We’re having trouble getting merch over for the UK dates because of the massive cost of postage and the fear of customs. We could be spending more than we make back and if customs hold it we could be faced with no merch at the show with most tickets sold (London). Post has gone mad, every time I send something I’m shocked at the cost.

I guess more people are going into record stores rather than ordering online. We will have T-shirts though because they were made in England.

Music today has been Wishbone Ash‘s Pilgrimage (1971), I saw them twice in Liverpool in the seventies, once with Ted Turner and once with his replacement Laurie Wisefield. I also saw them down south somewhere once with guitarist Andy Powell, the only original member, and another time at the Chelsea Football Club music venue with bassist/vocalist Martin Turner, yes, the only original member. I always like their duelling guitars and catchy tunes with progressive instrumental sections. Pilgrimage was their second album and reached No. 14 on the British chart.

Music Of The Daze