The hotel room is so small that there’s hardly enough space to close your eyes. But, there is nothing else to do in there but try to sleep. It was then that we realised that they had only supplied us with a single quilt. We also found it difficult to close the window (we gave up), there is a massive gap under the door and the tap in the sink turned off when you turned it in the direction of hot water. I was asleep so early that I was awake before it was light. I managed to fall back to sleep but was in the shower cabin/jail/torture chamber by 8.45 AM. The drain was not taking the water as fast as it was coming out of the shower head. It was building up around my feet, it was like a scene from a submarine disaster movie. I leaned down to pull the drain cover up so the water could descend quicker, it was half-blocked with nasty stuff. Bending down in there was asking for trouble, no space, slippery, and with cheap doors I imagined tumbling out onto the bed and taking the whole cabin and a flood of water with me. The irony is that the new place is big, the water is on but there is no shower or as I’ve said before, no taps. Next shower I will have at the pool where although it’s communal, at least you don’t feel like you’ve been placed in a small plastic cage, had water sprayed on you, and were being assessed for your psychological response to trauma and difficulty whilst naked.

I escaped to In Deep, overloaded with my guitar, my pool/gym bag, my camera, my lyric book, my laptop and my laptop speakers, and a plectrum which was taking up too much space in the room. Olivia was following with another camera and a bag of food and utensils and some plates that were now impossible to use if you are one of those humans that has elbows. I arrived at 9.30 AM, dropped everything off, and decided to go to the psychedelic psupermarket to buy some breakfasty-type things because we now had electricity and I thought I could put some oat milk in the fridge. Olivia called me before I’d had a chance to put a single item in my basket.

Between 1 PM and 3 PM, the internet people were coming, so I was good and ready to welcome them on a full stomach after my food trip. I’d called Olivia to ask her if she wanted anything and whilst talking she got another call. I told her to call me back which she did. We’d already managed to move the internet date from the 18th to today, we didn’t really know when we would have electricity on but now we had it we wanted the internet sooner if possible. Olivia called me back and said the internet people had just called and said could they come and do it in 10 minutes? Ha, classic, I went straight back foodless, and five minutes later there they were.

It all looks so complicated what they do with the wires and the holes in the wall and the router but they had it all done quite quickly. Olivia arrived and we settled into the luxury of the internet and electricity. I had a sesh with Fred at 5 PM so didn’t need to go up to the hotel where the internet is dodgier than it was before since we moved into the matchbox. I was just kicking back for a moment’s piece in the famous red chair listening to a sweet harmony when, bang, lights, computer, music all switched off. It was a power cut and out in the street, everyone was at their doors wondering what just happened.

All the excitement of having electricity and internet shattered. In the street, we talked to the guys across the way at the restaurant. They told us that it wasn’t just this street, it was the whole area. This is what you call the ‘philosophical deep breath time’, the ‘have patience time’, and ‘don’t lose faith time’. So I started to write the blog from yesterday offline and used the downtime well. Suddenly around two hours later, it all came back on, just in time for my Fred sesh.

Olivia went off to find some carpets and a small table to great success, we rearranged the studio room, and before I knew it Man City had beaten Bayern Munich 3-0 and the internet and the electricity made it through the whole game. A happy ending to a frustrating day.

Music today as threatened or promised depending on your poison was The Black Crowes – Croweology (2010) which has 19 reimagined versions of older songs. It’s not for Cocteau Twins fans but it has a very cool vibe for fans of soulful Southern rock.

Music Of The Daze