Today Olivia went on a journey by local train, she was on a quest that involved meeting our brilliant plumber Filipe at the São Romão station. Why would she meet our plumber at a station north of Porto? Well, first of all, Filipe used to have a Nissan Vanette (believe it or not), secondly he used to live in the same street as a man who has a garage specialising in Japanese car parts. He’d put the mechanic in touch with Olivia and it seemed that he had the camshaft we needed connected to a cylinder head. So with Filipe’s help and exchanges with the mechanic in England, she bought the cylinder head and camshaft and with Filipe and the mechanic’s help packaged it all up and sent it to England. Neither mechanic was willing to say that these parts were positively the correct parts. Apparently, it’s not that easy and we’ve already had one wrong cylinder head from Greece that looked right but wasn’t. Today was the closest we’ve been, the parts arrive in England on Monday and then we will know.

I had a sesh at midday with Bob in Boston and was supposed to have another with Matt in Brooklyn, but a family emergency meant he had to postpone. I went on a domestic walk – recycling, to the bakery (sold out of bullar), to the stereo shop (closed), to the furniture store (nothing), to the supermarket, where I went for one thing and came out with two heavy bags. It’s just the same as going to the record store, you go in for the new Steven Wilson and come out with a never-before-released Neil Young concert from 1976.

Lots to do today, proofreading, listening to edits, and considering artwork ideas. Listening to sessioneer demos and replying to emails before watching a great football game over dinner, Newcastle 4 – Paris St. Germain 1, and then having a rather large conversation with Sarah in Texas about the shape of the future, what colour it is and how many aliens are invited.

The warmth of Porto endures as we get into October. I passed one of the ladies of the day today and said boa tarde, she responded but was quite aloof, I suppose that goes with the territory. One of the other ladies is very friendly and always asks how we are. The ladies have obviously noticed that we are now officially locals.

Music today has been Porcupine Tree – In Absentia (2002) from the great middle period of the band. Highly recommended – if you like this kind of thing.

Music Of The Daze