The southern climate forced us out of the house today which had us taking the opportunity to walk around the neighbourhood and trying to stay out as long as possible before I had to get back for a sesh with Blueburst Craig from Atlanta. But whilst out we managed a coffee and a browse around the secondhand furniture store where I found a cheap yellow desk lamp – it was the colour which drew me to it. Of course, it didn’t work, but it was just the bulb so Olivia went and bought one and then dropped the lamp, breaking the glass that protected the bulb, haha, it didn’t matter, what mattered was that it was yellow.

The new post box worked despite being on the other side of the security gate. I saw the moody postman one day and told him we had a post box and he seemed negative about its location. But I showed him that you could get your hand through the gate slats and he seemed more positive. Yesterday MOJO mag was in there and that might have been a little harder to manipulate than a letter, so, result. The gatemen told us that they couldn’t screw it into the outer marble walls because it was not allowed, I suppose because it was marble and it’s protected in inner-city buildings.

It seems that only half the cooker works but that’s what you get for buying a second-hand cooker, new ones seem to be really expensive. It might be a blessing in disguise because the electricity can’t take the cooker’s power without closing the whole place down. If you live in a completely functioning house with light, water, internet, cooking facilities, fridge, heat, shower, dishwasher, washing machine, computer, TV, game box – “All Mod Cons” – Lucky you, you are living the modern dream. Still, you might want to slide in some books and records in there in case you turn into a machine or disappear into a screen and are never seen again, trapped in a digital universe for eternity.

I’m starting to see more people with backpacks in the city, travellers coming out of their winter dens in their home countries, moving south for the earlier spring and the more reliable sunshine. It’s not only northern Europeans that come here, a lot of Spanish people come too, I guess it’s not only a cool town to visit but it’s cheaper than Spain and just an hour from the Spanish border with no customs checks. What a great idea.

Music today has been The Jam – Sound Affects (1980), an album full of Rickenbackers and evolved songwriting. Inspired by The Beatles’ Revolver, there’s even backwards guitar on the classic That’s Entertainment.

A police car and a screaming siren
A pneumatic drill and ripped-up concrete
A baby wailing and a stray dog howling
The screech of brakes and lamp light blinking

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

A smash of glass and the rumble of boots
An electric train and a ripped-up phone booth
Paint-splattered walls and the cry of a tomcat
Lights going out and a kick in the balls

I tell ya that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Days of speed and slow time Mondays
Pissing down with rain on a boring Wednesday
Watching the news and not eating your tea
A freezing cold flat and damp on the walls

I say that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment
Waking up at six AM on a cool warm morning
Opening the windows and breathing in petrol
An amateur band rehearsing in a nearby yard
Watching the tele and thinking about your holidays

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettes
Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume
A hot summer’s day and sticky black tarmac
Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnight
Two lovers missing the tranquility of solitude
Getting a cab and travelling on buses
Reading the graffiti about slashed seat affairs

I tell ya that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la