Infinitely Distracting

It doesn’t always go as planned. Often, there is no plan. Detailed drawings we do not have, simply brief reminders scribbled on back of hand, a scrap of envelope, or scratched in the dirt with a stick. (Music excerpt "Through fishes' eyes" from the album "The man who loved flowers" by David McClymont and Peter Loveday.)

We make our way towards the new year, supping in Soho and slipping books under sweaters and up sleeves, fuelled on cappuccinos and stout, treating hangovers with Feminax, while sitting staring into the depths of dark Rothkos at the Tate. (Music excerpt "Through fishes' eyes" from the album "The man who loved flowers" by David McClymont and Peter Loveday.)

Being on the cusp of festive days, I wander down Brick Lane, in search of a gift of some kind to send home, a token, a souvenir, a reminder, to let my family know that I think of them, … occasionally, … I do. (Music excerpt "Through fishes' eyes" from the album "The Man Who Loved Flowers" by David McClymont/Peter Loveday)

Highs and lows. High points and low points. The road, always the road, twists and turns. The lie of the land, varied and infinitely distracting.

We have angels up there, looking over us, sometimes guarding us from danger.

Without a song, where would we be? Where would we be without a song? Recording new songs in an old school bus, in Ladbroke Grove.

The crooked house on the corner of Marlborough Avenue is slowly sinking into the ground, swallowed up by the marsh. But we are light on our feet, nimble and quick, and permanence does not appear on our list of bare essentials. (Song: "Room at the inn" from the album "Room at the inn" (2007) by Peter Loveday and featuring Andy Gemmell, Sarah Davison and Naomi Wedman.

Spurred on by my own lethargy and lack of achievement, I rise in the morning bewildered but determined, determined to leap into action. Song: "Cloud song" from the album "The Faraway Near" - Peter Loveday.

Rocking oneself to sleep in a hammock, rocking all the way down into the valley of dreams.

Once you start, you cannot stop. This rewinding and peering into the past, overcome with backroom reverie and non-specific yearning. The story returns, briefly, to where it began.

(Containing quotes from "2666" by Roberto Bolaño) (Song: "Pretty black rose" from the album "For everything a place, 2025")

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