It was a mega-drillathon today as the fake floor got laid down in the back room. The thing with fake floors is that they are still there. The problem is that they don’t age, they break, and you can see the importance of this in aged new guitars, aged furniture, or brand-new jeans that are ripped to pieces. The fake floor doesn’t wear out as quickly, neither do metal window frames, but if you can stop the wood from rotting away, it’s better for your soul, who could ever imagine that a wooden window frame could be good for your soul?

Jorge dropped around today, he was in the neighbourhood and told me he and his wife Telma are having a baby, which means that my guitars are stored in the future nursery, so it looks like they’re coming home. On the subject of instrument travels, the piano found its way from the middle of the room to its spot, progress.

Earlier in the day I went down to Tubitek, the record store, because I sent them my record want list by mistake. The list consists of all the new records, new releases, reissues, and box sets that I would like to purchase, but first I have to listen to them to see if I ‘really’ want them, otherwise, it would be tens of thousands of dollars. Having said that, it is an archive, but I have to leave some things behind otherwise I’d have to phase out eating.

On the subject of dinner, I went out into Cedofeita to have dinner with Shelly and Jason and their friends Jeff and Sharon. It’s a hip part of town and good to discover a new restaurant with good food and a friendly staff. We righted the world’s wrongs and eradicated war and disease from the planet. We have a music colony being built on one of Jupiter’s moons and a recording studio on Mars, we are using the valleys of Pluto for natural reverb.

I walked back from the restaurant through the kool streets of Porto. It was a Tuesday but in July there are people everywhere, all the bars and restaurants are full. Unlike the rest of Southern Europe, we are not dying in the terrible heat. Porto is near the sea and a cool breeze wafts across the city at night. In the daytime, it’s warm in the sun but not threatening, and sitting in the shade is comfortable too. Come to Porto, see The Archive, and that reminds me we have to soon start thinking about Phase 3 as the renovations are finishing up and we have to bring everything from storage in England.

Music today has been Galen & Paul – Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? (2023). It’s the unlikely collaboration between The Clash’s Paul Simonon and Kevin Ayers’ daughter Galen. You tell me what you think about it because I’m listening to it as I write.

Music Of The Daze