Really? Again? Yes, it happened again, the bed broke as I swung out of bed. So, I was up and straight out down to The Archive where I slept some more on a sofa bed that doesn’t break. I wasn’t there that long, I’d decided that today was pool day despite the miserable weather, low cloud and rain, two trains, and a walk. By the time I got there, I was flagging, not a good sign, revealing that I need to get there more often. A voice behind me shouted my name, it was Hugo, it’s been a while with all the travel and the moving. In the pool I met Nuno from the popular Portuguese band Ornatos Violeta, the regulars are still there. I had no plans to swim a mile but I did, I kept on getting closer and then I couldn’t stop. I also thought that the only way to get that pain out of my arm, neck, and shoulders, that came from moving, touring, flying, and different beds, was to swim and swim some more, it seems to have worked already.

When I left the pool it was that terrible slanting rain that gets you whatever you do. The ladies on the reception gave me one of the forgotten umbrellas and I trekked through the rain and wind to Marquês to get some bread rolls from what was my regular bakery. Across the road is the subway and I tentatively went down the wet, muddy, and slippery stone steps, trying to stay upright and I descended deep down towards the tracks. Everyone had a dripping umbrella, there was water everywhere, on the platform, inside the train, and everyone was drenched and looking like they wished they were home instead of being trapped in a soggy hell with a bunch of strangers. When I ascended I walked through some traffic and stared into the face of a motorcyclist who looked like a drowned rat.

Inside I listened to an Arktik Lake song edit and NJ Brian’s demos as I had a sesh with him which didn’t actually happen, but I spoke to Atlanta Craig instead and listened to his latest mix. On Monday, Blueburst, the project I have been working on with Craig, will be releasing a new single, I’ll post the details then.

On the front of the building we had graffiti on the windows and the wall but after yesterday’s trip to the café, it was gone. Joaquim and Luís at the restaurant across the road said it was probably ‘the city’ who removed it but it felt like it had been there for years. Perhaps when the electricity and the water goes on and ‘the city’ realises that it is no longer an abandoned or unused building they get a message to clean, I can’t really think of another explanation for the graffiti’s disappearance.

Tomorrow we have to be ready at 8.30 AM for a delivery of two pieces of wood that are going to be the lids for my amplifier isolation booth. Also tomorrow we expect a new post box and on Monday we get our new security gate fitted – progress.

Music today was the Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs collaboration. Sid ‘n Susie 4-CD Under The Covers box (2015), songs we all love from the sixties, seventies, and eighties.

Music Of The Daze