Today I went to the market that wasn’t there. I can never remember which alternate Saturday it is, and it wasn’t this one. It was nice to go to the old neighbourhood though, walk through the Marquês Park, past the fountain, and see all the men playing Suéca (a card game). It’s hard to see why they are so captivated by the four men playing, fifteen men standing around watching. I suppose it’s a cultural thing, a hang. I was back down in the underground minutes after rising from it and I was waiting for the train to Aliados. It was another warm day despite yesterday’s rain. In the underground a girl on the platform with tattoos including Mum on the back of her left thigh and Dad on the back of her right thigh, quite amusing I thought.

Olivia had had a text on her Portuguese phone from the record store that the boygenius 10-inch EP The Rest (2023) had arrived and the new, and second Slow Pulp album Yard (2023) had arrived as well as the latest remastered iteration of The Dark Side Of The Moon (1972/2023), the real one on its 50th anniversary. But before I went into the store, I had to call Andreas in Gävle in Sweden about the latest Arktik Lake single (Autumn Breeze) mastering. There was that and the Brooklyn Rajan mix, the NJ Brian Valley of Salt tweaks and the mystery project mixes with more things to come. Saturday is supposed to be my day off, ha, it’s cool, I had no seshes today and I put off mix listening till Sunday.

When I left the store, I walked past a girl wearing a T-shirt that said “Strange people have interesting stories”, another amusing character in the busy streets of Porto. I went via the supermarket to buy a cauliflower and as I went to put it in a bag, there was a woman there silently struggling with the same bag, I spoke to her in French without really looking at her, and helped her out, only to discover that – she was French. We both took a bag, a minute later both our bags broke and we were there again, speaking French.

I dropped everything off back at the ranch and went out again to get some takeaway food. Olivia was out up north buying two neon stars and because she was so close to some nice beaches, she went to breathe in some sea air and paddle. She came back in time for me to finish eating and get to the mix listening, the mix listening I didn’t make – tomorrow.

I also saved the life of a plant today. We’d been to the supermarket last week and bought a plant in a sealed pot. I’d watered it and there were no holes for the excess water to flow out, so I took it to the friendly florist on the corner and he repotted it and gave me the right pot that would ensure its survival till it needed to be repotted as it grew. He told me if I hadn’t brought it in, it would have died. Apparently, it’s going to grow a lot and I was happy to save a life.

Music today has been The Coral’s latest album, Sea of Mirrors (2023). They are local to where I grew up on the Wirral across from the River Mersey and Liverpool. A lovely sounding album with simple addictive songs and great strings. Check it out.

Music Of The Daze