A kind of compromised good news. My wallet has been handed in after all, though the UK notes are missing. The odd thing is, the UK change and the Swedish notes are still there. Still, I’m grateful to get any of the money back at all. My neighbour David thinks I may be able to claim some of the missing UK cash, via my travel insurance (which the festival bought on my behalf).

***
Had my last chat at the Tavistock yesterday, regarding my past course of therapy and whether I should look for a new course. I’ve been recommended to research a kind of shrink’s shopping list, to see if it might do me some good: cognitive, cognitive behavioural, cognitive analytical, psycho-dynamic, ‘solution-focussed’, and more.

I think therapy in some cases is just a substitute for the kind of close friend who really checks up on you, gives you a slap on a regular basis, stops you wasting days and months on sheer dithering about what best to do with your life. Not everyone takes to such ‘tough love’ friendships, certainly not myself. But God knows I need something along those lines, even if I have to pay for it.

***

One modern problem is knowing just how best to keep in touch with one’s friends. Myspace, Facebook, Livejournal, texting, mailing lists. By the time you’ve checked all these things and sorted through the various messages for events, it feels like you’ve not done anything else with your day. I can just about stay on top of emails, and that has to be it. It’s not that I feel I’m slower than the rest of the world, it’s that I find my mind can’t cope with checking and processing so many different messaging accounts, and keeping up with them. I find myself putting so much energy into worrying about what’s expected of me (must I reply? what if they reply back? how long is this chat going to go on for? how I can I get out of this and get some fresh air?) I feel I’m in danger of dying from an overdose of pure choice.

***

Sometimes, my thinking bristles like this:

Thank God I don’t like football. Because if I liked it, I would have to keep up with it. And that would be awful, because I don’t like it.

***

London Life:

A: Help me!
B: Okay.
A: Not you!

***

Emails:

hello there…my name is Joz, from Indonesia.. i just want to say thanks for the music that fosca made…can’t stop hearing “The Millionaire Of your own hair”, brilliant!!!

I always like the thought that bits of me – my recorded voice and words – have reached far-off lands without the rest of me, and have been of some use. Particularly as Fosca have enough trouble getting any kind of attention in the UK, let alone Indonesia. Thank you, and please tell others.

***

From: Sue George, London

Dear Mr Edwards, I always read your online diary when I remember to and I was particularly fascinated by it this time. When I was youngish (18? 19?) I saw the first TV showing of the Naked Civil Servant and was so inspired that I looked Quentin Crisp up in the phone book and wrote him a fan letter to which he replied! …Even now, he is an inspiration to me. Does Xavior Roide do these Quentin Crisp walks for the general public or simply for his friends? I am sure I am not the only person who would love to go on one.

The walk was an impulsive bit of fun, but I think he had belated interest from bohemian acquaintances requesting another outing. If Xavior does it next year, and assuming it’s an open invite, I’ll mention it here.

I should also mention this exciting piece of TV news:

An Englishman in New York 2008, ITV1 – A sequel to the award-winning 1975 drama The Naked Civil Servant. John Hurt reprises the role of Quentin Crisp (aka “the stately homo of England’), following his life in the 1980s and 1990s when he lived in New York.

I also see that you have linked to an essay by Matt Houlbrook. I am currently reading his book Queer London which is one of the most fascinating books I have read for years. Do you know it?

I do now, and have just borrowed it from the London Library…

Another mail:

The live Fosca CD arrived last night… This has been my first exposure to the new, guitared-up Fosca, and if this is an indication of how the new album is going to sound, then I’m even keener to hear it than before. There’s a real celebratory feel about the new songs, and indeed the new treatment of older numbers… you’ve never sounded so emphatic and alive…but maybe that’s because I haven’t seen Fosca live before. Is it always like this?

Oh, we come alive like Mr Frampton. I think my own sense of being the odd band out adds a certain defiance to the mix. Or an attempt at it, anyway.

Fosca have never sounded better, and I really hope that the new album is going to get the recognition it looks like deserving – let me know if there’s anything I can do to help with this, like plugging it on the various internet forums I use, or submitting reviews.

Please do tell the world, and try to get it reviewed wherever you can. Contact the record label (But Is It Art Records) and talk to them for press copies.

I should mention that the live album is now available to download free, albeit without the limited edition artwork.

… you really should play live more often. Even if it means moving to Sweden. Live likes you, and you seem to like it.

Actually, going by the live album sales, it turns out Fosca are bigger in the UK than Sweden after all.

I’d really love Fosca to play live more often myself. It depends on many things beyond my control (such as four differently busy people finding the same time slots free, and then matching those to gig offers, and then having to organise equipment transportation and hard cases and rehearsals, and getting paid and oh, we really need a manager…). But I hope it happens.

From: Allan, Hackney
Message: Do you have a Jake Thackray affinity?

No. Should I? Where’s best to start?