Mixed progress today on the camshaft, finally getting some responses from the man in Portugal who wants to see more pictures from the mechanic in England to assess whether he has the correct parts. Olivia’s dad, Gerd, found a camshaft in Greece for €89, but not with the connecting bits. I thought that maybe we should just get it in case, as it’s not massively expensive and it might be useful. Tomorrow we hope to reach some conclusions, so send some positive vibes to Ariel. So The Top (1984) by The Cure doesn’t have a song called Ariel, does it?

We received a very small American royalty check (haha) and Olivia was trying to get me out of the house to cash it, but when we got to the bank it was closed at 1.30. Really? This is the problem when you don’t live in the mornings. What do shift workers do when they need to buy Black Sabbath albums? Aren’t they asleep between 10 AM and 6 PM, getting their eight hours before waking for evening breakfast, pre-shift lunch, and dinner break halfway through the shift? Shift work probably isn’t good for you.

After the closed bank trip, we passed by the second-hand furniture store to get some second hands for the clocks, then we realised they were all digital. Actually, when I look at the clocks we have in here, we have two digital clocks and two weird sixties-looking clocks that do have hands. Then there’s the weird USB clock that everyone enjoys trying to read when they visit. At the store we managed to find some ancient heavy mermaid tales as door hooks and a cheap wine rack for wine we don’t drink but somebody else might and it’s nice to be able to offer.

On the way we made friends with Ana and Pedro from the art studio/tattoo parlour across the road which isn’t quite open to the public yet, it’s semi-private. We showed them our place, nice to make friends with other people in the street, especially when they are doing arty projects. Olivia left to try out the bus routes (yes, really), because they were on the way to where she was going. I went out to different supermarkets for things that each one doesn’t have before getting ready for two seshes, one with NJ Brian and the Valley of Salt project, the other with sessioneer Jeff in Ohio whose project is also evolving, more on that as it comes to fruition.

Music today has been an album I posted not so long ago, The Cure’s The Top (1984), but I hadn’t investigated the deluxe version with the demos and the extra tracks. This is where I found Robert Smith’s home demo of a song called Ariel, who knew? It’s pretty obscure, but then, so is the album.

Music Of The Daze