| London, December 2002 | home |
(22nd December 2002)
It wasn't quite the plan to roll out of bed an hour late and then stand in the shower, unable to find the fortitude to leave warm spray and smooth tones of in-shower radio. It wasn't on the plan to mess about for a further thirty or so minutes, getting plants watered, doors locked and bags arranged cunningly in the boot of the car. Maybe there was never a plan in the first place, because I'm not certain any of these things bothered me when I set off on my journey at around 10:45 that Saturday morning. There was one target in mind: I needed to be in London around night-time - 6pm to 9pm (a generous window) and I needed to be in Leeds over lunchtime - 12pm to 3pm (another generous window). As I left my home, not expecting to see it, if at all, for more than a few more hours within 2002, I was confident that I could achieve my traveling aims and objectives.
For company on the journey, I had the cast of the 2002 Danish Production of "Chess" - at least I had a recording of them along with which I sang lustily, brushing up on various parts I'd so far under rehearsed with my fellow operatics-society chums. Thus enthralled, I barely noticed the distinct lack of any traffic, especially around hot-spots like the Metro Centre, which I'd assumed would have been jam-packed with people performing last-major-shopping-day-before-Christmas panic-stricken purchases. Equally, I barely noticed that the time or distance had passed when, a couple of songs into Act 2, the automobile, under my guidance, advanced into a parking space outside Alistair's house while "Molokov" on the CD sang about "The Soviet Machine" advancing.
Having made such good time, I had beaten my host to his home, so sat in the car amusing myself. This seemed to entail trying out a series of different parking spaces, ultimately deciding to use exactly the wrong one, listening to more music, and even enjoying a stint on the guitar which happened, by good luck, to be my preferred arm's length away (I always like to have a guitar within arm's length when at home), in the foot well of the rear passenger seat.
01 February 2003
Ashley Frieze