Thursday 14th November 2024

Aki up at 0800 to get working at the computer. She brought me a mug of tea. Got up and brought a bowl of porridge back to bed with me and read some Toni Morrison. Got up and did some cleaning, and made the bed up in the spare room. Popped out to buy bread and milk. Bob and Lottie turned up around 1345 and we had soup for lunch. We had intended on taking them into town to visit a gallery, but we ended up sat around chatting and catching up.

We headed out toward Camden at 1630, on foot...walked up Camden Road, stopping off at the Lord Stanley for a swift half, before walking on into Camden. Got to De Gusto a little early, and took our seats...waited for Katrina to roll up before ordering; Tom Wicks, his wife, and a couple of their mates from Holmfirth turned up too, and we all sat at a long table. The food wasn't bad...not much of it though. 

We made our way to the Jazz Cafe around 2000, and got in to see the tail end of the first support act, and girl singing and playing guitar...nice jazzy soul vibe. Spotted Barney, and he came over for a brief chat. The second support act was a guy who basically twiddled a load of knobs on a unit attached to his laptop, occassionally embellishing the noise with some sax, or keyboard. By the time Barney's band, MRCY, came on, the venue was full, and he and Kojo were given a rousing reception. The band were in top form, and everyone had a great time. Delighted to discover Jim's sister, Mandy, was in the audience after the show...had a brief catch-up, but the house music was loud, and deterred a more lengthy talk...so we escaped back out into the Camden night, and caught a bus home. Stayed up for a bit drinking tea and listening to some vinyl of bands from our Nottingham days. Bob and Lottie retired to the spare room. Bed.