Up with the late lark for the gate people, 8 AM might not sound so early but it is for me, I’m a night person and resent going to bed when tiredness gets the better of me. It’s not that I hate mornings, I love mornings but I love late nights more, the silence, the ability to concentrate, the lack of activity on the streets, the traffic resting, the shops and restaurants closed, even the birds go to bed. I’d like to have both mornings and nights to cruise the universe and I envy those who only need to sleep five hours a night. If I go to bed at 3 AM and get up at 8 AM, I’m toast all day.

The gatekeepers were early as usual and I let them in at 8.10 AM and they were right at it, fixing the security gates in the back. These guys are craftsmen and watching them yesterday, precisely installing this huge metal object in a big hole and making it fit perfectly, and open and close so smoothly, is a giant skill. They were cool too and had a look at the window hinges and tightened them up and drilled holes and attached our new post box to the wall outside.

From here I went to be X-rayed. Those thumbs, and the fact that I can’t kneel on one of my knees, this makes it difficult when I’m praying to find a solution to getting The Archive to Portugal. We went to Unilabs where they do the X-rays, blood tests, and the like, and on different floors, I was sent up for my X-rays and Olivia was sent to have the giant bat take her blood. Upstairs half a dozen waiting for the X-ray room, everyone scrolling their phones. I took out my book and read three chapters before I was called. The room was quite empty apart from the radiologist, the machine, and the table and she manipulated me into all kinds of shapes to get the hot shots she needed. It was quite quick once I was in there, now I wait for the results.

After this, we walked through a beautiful day in between the t-shirted tourists and the often more wrapped up locals, heat is relative. We were on our way to our landlord Nuno’s place to re-sign the contract. It was supposed to be from April but the place wasn’t ready so the contract start date has changed to start from May. The landlord, the real estate agent, and the lawyer, it sounds really official but it was casual with the sun shining so hard through the big windows that you needed your sunglasses.

We then went on a walk around town via Tubitek and Louie Louie because I thought I might have left my glasses behind, later finding them in the listening chair in the studio.

At Louie Louie I picked up three more 5€ CDs, Lia Ices‘ Grown Unknown (2011), Tricky’s Vulnerable and Anglo/Australian sixties/early seventies band Python Lee Jackson’s Piano Players Ball (1971/1998) and no, the surprise hit, In a Broken Dream, isn’t on it. Allegedly Rod Stewart was hired as a session musician to sing the track and was paid with new seat covers for his car. A fascinating set of three CDs to be explored.

Music today has been Lia Ices – Grown Unknown (2011). I’m not sure if many know who she is but I can never tell who is obscure and who is known anymore because artists I’ve never heard of seem to have lots of streams on Spotify. I have some catching up to do with Lia Ices because she has made two albums since this one and one before and I like her a lot. What’s she like? Have a listen.

Music Of The Daze