There's someone at the door

Just received my train tickets for my return journey to Glasgow. I'm going to be spending the whole day on the train, which is more than welcome so I can spend time reading, composing, planning and having a great time generally. Helena has commended me because I'll be saving the environment, well not exactly saving it, but damaging it less than if I took the plane. The next day I'll be meeting someone to discuss a date and the ins and outs of the improvised electronic music gig that I've been trying to get off the ground for approximately a year. So much for promptness. I've been working at learning C++ and OpenGL this week, with half a mind to implementing them in the near future. The problem is that there are two types of interactive interfaces available - the Lemur, which is on the Cycling74 website for an obscene price, and the very much prototype interface which I'd probably have to a) build myself and b) would probably end up costing even more. Not that that would be a problem, since I'd probably have to secure funding to research this topic anyway.

So a little low-down on last week. I met Zanni at the airport. Well, I arrived and sat down somewhere I thought she might be arriving, only to discover there were no flights from Venice coming in that day. Then it slowly dawned on me that somewhere in some communication she's mentioned she would fly into Stansted, but that she's talked about Heathrow in the rest of the emails. So I decide to try to ring. Answermachine. I sit there thinking that all I can do is wait to phone her, so I send a text message to see when she turns her phone on (delivery report). Meanwhile I twiddle my thumbs in the enourmous Heathrow terminal 2. She rang from a payphone a little later and explained her phone had been stolen in Syria, that yes, she did get into Stansted, but that she would be on a bus on her way over shortly. Sigh of relief. We arranged to meet at the tube stop in Heathrow - they have buses, coaches, tubes, trains and taxis at Heathrow. Every possible way you could think of to get out of the place. By far the cheapest and easiest way to get into the quagmire that is London is to take the tube, straight along and into Covent Garden we sailed, and camped outside at a pretty dismal Pastie shop and admired the flocks of pigeons who've obviously discovered the delights of Cornish crumbs. After an expensive lunch I suggested we attempt our journey to Chichester, and we easily got to Victoria and purchased exorbitant train tickets. The journey was smooth, apart from we arrived in Bognor and were told to change, but it's not that far on the bus so we stepped outside into the rain and grey skies and camped at the bus stop, only to find after the bus arrived on time that we were outside the range for the cheaper fare, so it cost us £6 for a five minute bus journey. I think I spent more that day on travel than I've ever done and my wallet certainly felt lighter.

Merston is a dream to walk into, although when there was nothing in the fridge I was only too happy to make a trip to the indian takeaway. The weather brightened a little over the next few days, and we talked about Selva, life, Arabic, Italian vs. English, Crisma, coffee, politics and so many other things I forget. We visited my brother, sister-in-law and niece on Sunday and had a really good time. BBQs ahoy - my brother did a fine job with kebabs, burgers, sausages and all manner of pickles and breads. I feel like having that kind of feast every day. Talking of feasting I'm trying to eat as much as I possibly can while I'm here so that I don't have to worry about starving too much when I get back to Glasgow. I think it'd be good to put on some weight for a change, maybe work it off when I get back, have a fitness regime, a job and some other interests.

For now I'll continue writing the Tango and struggling with Max. Might post a score when I'm done.