Friday 27 September 2013

High Tide04:06 (2.30m)
Low Tide10:10 (1.00m)
High Tide17:13 (2.20m)
Low Tide22:20 (1.20m)
Sea temperature: not taken (see below), but my thermometer is fixed.
Sea conditions: What has become known as 'a Mertz sea' - i.e. rough, but not too rough, perfect for body surfing, which The Poet attempted a couple of times
Weather: stunning sunrise, followed by biblical sky
Joined by: The Usual Suspects
Topics of conversation:
Golf balls - The Bridge Captain was in a rush as she was off to play golf on a posh course. As Mertz now plays again I think I should try to use the right terminology - I got very strange looks when I said he was playing at the Halesworth 'court', which I now know is 'course'. I asked if it was good form to wish her luck with her 'game' or 'match' and DK told the story of Ike Eisenhower (who used to have his golf balls painted black in winter so that he could play in snow) and his wife's good luck charm. Apparently she was quoted as saying, in all innocence, that she would always kiss his balls before he played.
Talking of quotes - The LE has been in the habit recently of noticing lines and phrases spoken on the beach in the mornings which, when taken out of context, sound peculiar. We thought we should start collecting them. This morning's was "I feel much braver now that I am wearing a hat."
30's outfits - The Artist is holding a 1930's styled soiree to celebrate her birthday with friends in the village and so The LE and I have been discussing outfits, she has a number and I have something hiding in the attic, which might do. She has found a cigarette holder for The Artist too. The Architect had suggested we should all just go in knitted bathing suits... I think not.
The Spitfire - yesterday afternoon there had been a Spitfire doing acrobatics over the village and the sea, the sound was unique and it was enough to stop The Artist and I half way through a class, everyone was looking skywards. We speculated about what it was up to and this morning I found out, whilst on a mission with The Ferryman. He had been rowing the ferry yesterday when a family had boarded, they were travelling over the river with the ashes of a relative who they were going to scatter from the lifeboat. They had chatted and The Ferryman had spoken to one family member in particular, a woman who made the return journey just as the Spitfire was starting it's flight. At this time another passenger asked him if he knew anything about the plane and he told him that all he knew was that it was based at Martlesham and was owned by a lady, who might be the pilot. The woman politely interrupted and said "actually it's not her flying today..." which surprised them both. "How do you know?" asked The Ferryman, "Because my boyfriend is the pilot today, and he's got a passenger up there." At this point The Ferryman said it was as if the pilot could hear them; he ramped it up and began performing rolls and loops over the sea, as if he were performing for her - he said it was one of the most romantic things he'd seen.
Othello - I'd been to see the NT LIVE showing of this last night. It had been my A Level play so I had mixed feelings about it, but came away thinking that if I'd seen that production all those years ago the exam would have been a joy. The Poet is off to see it next week so I've asked him to pay particular attention to the accent Rory Kinnear employs as my Film Club buddy and I couldn't work it out. The Pirate came in on the tail end of the conversation and joked with the Bridge Captain, asking her if she realised what a pseudo intellectual bunch she had joined, and how it was like a Radio 4 convention. Er... she's the BRIDGE CAPTAIN....

Tuesday 24 September 2013

High Tide02:05 (2.50m)
Low Tide07:58 (0.80m)
High Tide14:21 (2.50m)
Low Tide20:22 (0.80m)
Sea temperature: not taken - my thermometer is playing up, DK and I discussed replacement batteries but I am nervous about opening the back in case it is no longer waterproof. 
Sea conditions: mill pond 
Weather: grey but warm
Joined by: The Usual Suspects, all of them at once, which meant 10 of us on the beach this morning and 7 dogs (including Trigger, who is staying with The Bridge Captain). The Pirate and I muttered darkly about it feeling rather crowded, but it's great that the weather is holding out long enough for everyone to get the benefit of these beautiful mornings.
Topics of conversation:
The LE arrived with Alf, and he's not hers. She often takes him on the lead to The Pirate's house on the way back to save him the trouble, it's the newbie's job (I graduated last year, when The Poet took over and now it's her turn - obviously DK is too grand for such trivialities) but today Alf made it to the beach before The Pirate with a great big grin on his face. When we all looked perplexed The LE led us to believe he'd been for a sleep over with Jagger, who still isn't allowed out. She's making up for this by feeding him tripe and seemed concerned that there was still a whiff of it about her, not the case, and we know as the girls went in arm in arm in our matching black swimming hats, doing dance stepping in the shallow water.

Stay
Who do you think you are (the series) - someone, I forget who, had seen Marianne Faithful's version and Sara asked if she ended up finding out that her family are Jewish as she has a friend who works on the production, which they refer to as "Jew do you think you are"! It's true - so often this is the case and following the episode of Simon Shama's 'Story of the Jews' this week, in which he looks at the influence of Jewish writers, cinematographers and musicians, it seems rather inevitable. I'd particularly enjoyed an episode I'd seen with Minnie Driver, whose unconventional life pattern was found to be reflected back generations. 
The definition of true Autumn - The Pirate and I discussed this and tried to decide if it was when the clocks go back, the Equinox or September 24th - Michaelmas - as this is when the cows come off the fields. It's also when you are supposed to stop eating blackberries and our reasons for doing so highlighted our different upbringings. His Mother always used to say you couldn't eat them after Michaelmas eve because that was when the Devil spat on them, whereas my Grandmother told me it was the witches who wee'd on them. 

The Artist's sartorial elegance - it's been apparent recently that The Artist enjoys dressing up, we should already have realised this by her beach attire, which isn't what you'd call conventional (this morning she swam in black thermal base layers, with long sleeves, turquoise gardening gloves and a sequinned beret) and this morning I discretely told her that she hadn't removed her mascara from the night before, it was running onto her cheeks. "Darling" she cooed "this is left over from Saturday night - I simply couldn't bear to remove it, because I liked my glam look so much!" The LE was reminded of a quote about Barbara Cartland - Clive James spoke of her use of boot polish for eye make up and I checked because we weren't sure of the exact quote, Twitter reliably informs me it was "Twin miracles of mascara, her eyes looked like the corpses of 2 small crows that had crashed into a chalk cliff"

High Tide01:28 (2.50m)
Low Tide07:21 (0.70m)
High Tide13:39 (2.70m)
Low Tide19:49 (0.70m)
Sea temperature: not taken but it felt warmer again
Sea conditions: mill pond calm
Weather: misty, warm
Joined by: The Usual Suspects
Swimming hats - Sara has a a new blue one, which she's pretty sure she didn't order and I have the first one I've ever own as an adult. They are very different from how I remember the ones we had to wear at school, much lighter and more effective, although they are certainly less flattering, which is quite an achievement. I was surprised how everyone sounded so quiet but my voice sounded so loud. The main reason for buying one was to see if I could keep my head under for longer this year, especially as The Arctic Princess has sent me the details for the Cross Channel Swim challenge. Even if you are only doing a relay swim you still have to have swum for 2 hours in the open water, at temperatures between 10 and 15 degrees, and there is no way I could do this without a hat as my ears get really cold.
DK and I spent so long talking about the current 'Sound of the Cinema' season on the BBC that everyone else was in before us. There is an exceptional series, presented by Neil Brand called The Music That made The Movies, and last night I'd seen an episode in which he'd been talking to Angelo Badalamenti about his relationship with David Lynch where they'd discussed Laura Palmer's Theme, we  slowly hummed and the geese flew over, it does become slightly uplifting as it builds.





Monday 23 September 2013

High Tide00:50 (2.60m)
Low Tide06:44 (0.70m)
High Tide12:57 (2.80m)
Low Tide19:14 (0.50m)
Sea temperature: 15.8
Sea conditions: perfect
Weather: magically misty
Joined by: The Usual Suspects
Topics of conversation:
Welcome back to Sara and The Poet - they've been on holiday, celebrating the end of their respective courses, to a relaxing Spa style Hotel break in the south. They had had a much deserved indulgent time and had found an unexpectedly deserted beach, the location of which shall remain secret, but had been enjoying the warm swimming in a pool so much that they hadn't swum in the sea. DK was singularly unimpressed at the reports of 25 degree water.
Congratulations to DK, who has finished the recording of his memoires and is knackered. I've always thought that a good indication of the success of a recording/edit is the response for technicians working on it, and his had clearly had a thoroughly entertaining week, and he now knows more about DK than most. 
Tyres - I'd had a blow out on the way to Norwich early yesterday morning, not a great start to the day, which got progressively worse as I managed to get grease on my new scarf (a present from one on the LOTVs) whilst changing the tyre, was late for a haircut as a result so look like Ringo Star, and had subsequently discovered that both front tyres were bald and one of the back ones was distorted. To make matters worse the tracking was totally out, so 7 hours later and £430 lighter I finally made it home, greeted by the owner as if I'd 'broken' his car. Not a great day, but it ended so well as I went over to The Artist's suite at the hotel, where she was preparing for her 80th birthday party, to do her hair and make and help her get dressed up. Blimey she scrubs up well. I took these photos over to show The Drapers, with whom we had dinner, and they've asked her to do some modelling for them as a result.



Wednesday 18 September 2013

Low Tide03:55 (0.90m)
High Tide09:56 (2.60m)
Low Tide16:30 (0.50m)
High Tide22:52 (2.50m)
Sea temperature: 14.9
Sea conditions: perfect
Weather: perfect
Joined by: The Usual Suspects
Topics of conversation:
DK's mémoires - he is recording his life story this week and yesterday was day one, he got through 7 chapters out of 28, so he's on target but his throat is already suffering a little. We discussed the merits, or otherwise, of milk for the throat as I'd always thought it was good for dry scratchy ones but bad for phlegm and having googled it seems that the jury is out. Once it is recorded and produced then the world will get to hear the stuff that we are kept amused by on a regular basis. Legs put this great picture up on Facebook last night, and yes, he is the little one.
Micro climate - the village is renowned for having it's own pocket of weather, when my Mother was a kid they called in the golden triangle as we'd often have sun when no one else does along the coast, but it also works the other way as we get the frets that roll in but get no further than to A12. Today was a golden day and it was very evident from the dark front to the south and the dappled cloud to the north. I discussed it with a village elder and we recall that Wally used to say "the sun shines bright upon the righteous". 


It made The Artist smile
Connections - I tried to map out a sequence of events which had connected perfectly over the last 24 hours, but that started with The Pirate lending me a book last year. To summarise: The Pirate and I discuss Oliver Bernard, poet, and the poem he wrote about Walberswick that I hadn't read, he lends me the book. It sparks a thought, so hang on to it, and the thought, till I have time. 2 months ago I pick up the book again and begin to research a little, only to discover (as mentioned before) that he recently died, but that a recording exists of him reading the work I am interested in. I search in vain, The Poet searches in vain so eventually I write to the estate to see if they can help, but get no reply. I promise to return the book to The Pirate and ask if his son would be interested in recording it for me and we both agree that it would be much better for him to hear the author read his own work first. I decide to order my own copy of this slim volume, produced in 1978 and track one down online. I think I've bought it but I get a message from Abebooks telling me I've made an error, typing the wrong credit card number, or some such, then I get one from a very nice man, who is the actual source of the book. I notice that his address is very close to where Bernard used to live, next to my old village, so on replying and requesting that he takes over the order, as he suggests, I ask if he perhaps knows where I could get the CD. He replies straight away saying he has a copy that I can have and he'll send it with the book. To top it all his surname is Hamburger, Michael Hamburger lived in Middleton, just down the road from here and was the subject of one of my favourite films/artworks by Tacita Dean. The nice man, Richard, is his son. Tacita Dean is currently showing a work inspired by her correspondence with JG Ballard, a contemporary and friend of Hamburger's which I'm hoping to see next month. Everything connects.
Sauce - I've been making lots of chilli sauce recently as we have a glut, in fact there's been a batch bubbling on stove pretty much every day since the weekend. Last night I went round to help The Artist with some technical issues she's been having and we got side tracked, considerably. We ended up crushing velvet, discussing canvas preparation and push up bras, and trying on shoes - as you do. After about 2 and a half hours I had a sudden flash of memory that I'd left the pan on, so abandoned her in an instant, fearing for my best pan. When I got home the house smelled like a pickling factory but the sauce was not only unharmed but it was even better. So Legs - that recipe I sent you, which said "cook for an hour" - add 2 and a half.
The Bear - The Bridge Captain has been very disappointed that none of us could see The Bear on the Bridge, so yesterday we all looked hard and it's one of those things, you don't see it till you do, then you can't see anything else. I think I might give him a trim this evening as my shears are in the hut.



Monday 16 September 2013

Low Tide01:56 (1.00m)
High Tide08:04 (2.40m)
Low Tide14:33 (0.70m)
High Tide21:14 (2.40m)
Weekend overview
Sea temperature: dropping, yesterday we recorded 16.4, whilst today's reading was 15.8 - it didn't seem that cold though and DK and I had words about it - he was in one of those moods
Sea conditions: very high tide today, so high that we couldn't cross the crabbing bridge, this was very different to yesterday, even though we were swimming at the same time. The wind has been increasing gradually and had swung around from north west to south during the night, after the rains.
Weather: sunny despite early evening and late night rains. Yesterday we had a mackerel sky, which I now know is Cirrocumulus stratiformis, having consulted The LE's book
Joined by: The Usual Suspects (The Bridge Captain has joined on a semi permanent basis now), Mertz and The Arctic Princess on Sunday
Topics of conversation:
The tide - it really had been a remarkable high tide, according to a village elder we often meet on the way down this was due to the strong winds overnight as well as the 2.4m predicted height. It was still coming in as we swam and the northern bridges were un-passable unless you had wellies on (or gum boots as he called them - I love that name and haven't heard it in years)



We'd had The Arctic Princess staying this weekend, and true to adventurous form she'd swum with me, staying in as long as the hardcore of the group even though it was her first swim of the year. She's trying to make the most of the sun as she returns to Northern Lights country this week and the daylight hours are shrinking fast up there. The poor thing had had a terrible journey up here, taking 5 hours in stop start traffic, she might have made it quicker using her usual form of transport. She'd been chatting to The LE and confirmed what a small world it is by discovering that she knew The LE's tour guide from her holiday in Norway, they'd taken part in the same race - Finnmarlslopet. Here she is looking a little tired during the race: Marianne The Artist is thinking of taking a cruise around the Norwegian coast, so there was lots of chat about the best way to do this, and still get to see dry land. I'd love to join her.
The Princess's usual mode of transport
 Channel swimming - there have been a number of endurance swims recently, including a rash of Channel crossings, as it's the best time of year for such endeavours, but The Arctic Princess's friend had her relay attempt put on hold on Friday due to the storms. She's seriously thinking about doing one herself and trying to recruit me to her team so we discussed the risks as we swam against a strong current on Sunday morning, hardly getting anywhere. Apparently you just swim for your allotted time, regardless of how far you get, then you hand over the baton. Doesn't sound so hard...
Gloves - DK, as mentioned above, was in one of those 'take no prisoners' moods today, he and The Pirate had a faux heated discussion about the right time to start swimming in gloves, I couldn't quite work out who was suggesting what, but there was a good deal of swearing (from DK) and harrumphing (from The Pirate).
Jagger's playdates - he's found a firm friend in Mabel, who loves playing with him and he clearly has a social calendar more packed than mine. We've been debating how Willow would get on with as she has a bossy streak, maybe he could squeeze her in for a short slot and we'll see how it goes.



Monday 9 September 2013

High Tide01:27 (2.50m)
Low Tide07:18 (0.70m)
High Tide13:38 (2.70m)
Low Tide19:50 (0.60m)
Sea temperature: confusing. We took it in the shallows, which felt really - 17.8 degrees, but then, once out into deeper water it was tasty. The tide was coming in and the sand and stones were cooling the water. 
Sea conditions: perfect
Weather: perfect
Joined by: The Usual Suspects, 3 LOTVs and Mertz
Topics of conversation: 
Running in the shallows, which The Pirate did whilst holding my hand, we must have looked bonkers skipping into the water. @Redsnapper had taken this video of me playing with the dogs on the beach on Saturday and he and I discussed how reassuring it can be that nothing changes on this edge of the world we live on, I was doing exactly the same thing in exactly the same place with different dogs 45 years ago. 
The Vicar's wife came down later, when we were having coffee on the beach as Mertz is on holiday and we agreed that it is 'as good as the Med' at this time of year, now that the visitors have all but gone. 
DK's event - he's performing at the local tomorrow and it's such a hot ticket that it sold out immediately so he'd been discussing the emergency seating plan with the Landlord last night, he joked that he'd seated one of the LOTVs by the loos so that she could get in. We are too late for a ticket, but have promised to go in and heckle from the bar, which is where we had met him and Legs last night for a catch up pint and the poster had had us all wondering who the young man in the picture was.
Right, off to the estuary as the first of our 'holiday walks'.

Sunday 8 September 2013

High Tide00:52 (2.50m)
Low Tide06:41 (0.70m)
High Tide13:00 (2.70m)
Low Tide19:14 (0.50m)
Sea temperature: not taken - therefore 19.1
Sea conditions: good
Weather: Stunning clouds, warmish
Joined by: The Usual Suspects, The Torpedo, A LOTV and @Redsnapper
Topics of conversation:
We were late... @Redsnapper was staying with me this weekend, and she has 3 lurchers at the moment, although one, Alice, is a foster dog so she went to stay with people from the rescue group up the road for the night. Comet, the boy, thought he'd go to look for her this morning and snuck out whilst we were having our coffee/tea, so when we went to leave he was nowhere to be found. After much searching he was spotted in a neighbouring disused tennis court, which has a 12 ft fence round it. How he got in is still a mystery. @Redsnapper fosters dogs for Southern Lurcher Rescue, a spectacularly worthy group who look after the increasingly large number of abandoned and mistreated dogs, found in terrible states. The group is made up of volunteers, many of whom take the dogs into their own homes until their 'forever home' can be found, hence Alice. Alice has found her way into everyone's hearts, but as yet hasn't found her forever home. She's beautiful, kind, gentle but vocal, so we've been doing some training this weekend and she responded very well so @Redsnapper has taken one of my spare water pistols home with her (yes, I have a stash).
L - R Willow, Comet, Daisy, Alice, Socks, Luna and Paddy

Comet relaxing after his stressful morning

Daisy 
DK couldn't get his head around out 24 Hour Menu, so I tried to explain that when we get together we like to cook and eat, but not as one big meal, so we just graze all day, which we find more civilised as we both like to cook, eat, drink, walk the dogs and chat at our leisure, this weekend menu was:
3pm    Gazpacho with wild garlic pesto and Bigod Brie
6pm    Mulberry cocktails
7pm    Silver pearl corn (first pickings of the year)
8pm    Roasted Aubergine Napoleons with mozzarella and tomato with pesto
          Black Dog Deli salads (giant couscous, pea, bean and feta, coleslaw)
9am    Porridge with Munchie Honey Seeds
1pm    Gazpacho cocktail, Roast Portobello Mushrooms with parmesan, blue cheese and chilli jelly fresh from the harvest (Black Dog Deli salad leftovers)
          Beetroot and orange cake with mulberry and cream cheese topping with mulberry ripple ice cream
2pm    Tea and more cake
The LE had very kindly brought a wonderful book on clouds down to the beach for @Redsnapper to look at as she has a mild obsession with photographing them (she's promised to send me some of her images, which I hope to share), The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Prector-Pinney. If you are reading this LE, it may have to live here for a week or so - wonderful book, very inspiring.
Having a late start this morning was a contrast to yesterday, when I'd watched the sunrise at 5.30am and spent a couple of hours at the hut before the swim. I'd been joined by a bouncy Poet at 6.30am. He arrived at the hut saying 'Aren't you swimming this morning? Everyone is late!" This was not the case; he had resurrected an old watch, which he'd managed to set an hour early, so we sat and drank coffee and watched the clouds. I had my camera this time so wasn't a very good hostess and kept dashing off to photograph the sky, but the dogs weren't moving from the sleeping bag...






Sky dog running


          


Wednesday 4 September 2013

Low Tide04:21 (1.00m)
High Tide10:36 (2.50m)
Low Tide16:51 (0.70m)
High Tide23:19 (2.40m)
Sea temperature: perfect
Sea conditions: perfect
Weather: perfect
Joined by The Usual Suspects and a Scotsman
Topics of conversation:
Dog chews packaging - Luna had bought some chewies for Jagger, in her role as Dogmother she felt it would be a good way to keep him occupied so that he didn't just follow her around or lie gazing at her, waiting for her to tell him what to do. We all decided that packaging really has gone too far; each chew (and they are the smallest ones for smallest mouths) had a label, which was attached with a cable tie so that the brand could be seen. Like Jagger can read, he's only 9 weeks old!
What now?
My new part time job - questions were asked about what, exactly, I am doing now that I've scaled down the teaching and am helping The Architect in his new office. I explained that one of my primary functions was attempting to stop a fat muddy dachshund from wiping his belly on the carpet every time he walks past with his owner. The Pirate knows his owner, who is around 80 years old and still cycles everywhere with placards attached to the front and back of her bike stating her political allegiance and asking for donations to the RNLI. The muddy offender's name is apparently something like Tiggy, or Tilly, or that could just be the name that was on The Pirate's mind as I'd also explained that one of the reasons I enjoy working there so much is that the The Architect bought me eggs Benedict from Tilly's cafe for breakfast last week. We're having kippers on Friday, I'm excited. 
Wylie Baths - The Ellies' son gets a membership from them each year to this amazing swimming venue, tidal pools that are open 365 days of the year. They had been in touch the Manager, Zac Kratovil, by email and he'd seen this blog (thanks for the comments Zac). It transpires that he used to run Tooting Bec Lido and has even swum just up the coast in Wells, a favourite summer haunt of mine, near Holkham. He clearly gets us, and admitted that cold water swimming kept him sane in this country in the winter, he even ventured in off Tyree in the Inner Hebredes. It's great to know there are kindred spirits on the other side of the world. The images of Wylie Baths are amazing and we discussed the point at which it would become scary, with waves scouring the man made pools. It's going on my bucket list.
Wylie Baths
Today however, I don't think there could have been anywhere better in the world to swim than our little strip of the North Sea. The soft Suffolk September is here in all its glorious mists, dewy mornings, golden evenings and dramatic sunsets, warm sea water and the village is slowly emptying of visitors, I want time to stand still. This was my walk to the beach this morning.





DK and I discussed TM all the way home as I'm fledging and it was so reassuring talking to him as he's been at it for 25 years, as have Wolfie and The Shaman. My teacher, Annie Renwick, is wonderful and supports me at a distance, like any good teacher, but soon I will be feeling I have to make it without her (unless I undertake further courses) so talking to DK gave me confidence that I'll never really will be on my own.
http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org.uk 

Monday 2 September 2013

Low Tide03:09 (1.10m)
High Tide09:19 (2.40m)
Low Tide15:34 (0.80m)
High Tide22:19 (2.30m)
Sea temperature: 17. something - 1 or 6 depending on the thermometers
Sea conditions: good
Weather: cool and sunny
Joined by: The Usual Suspect, apart from The Pirate, who is still in France and Mertz.
Topics of conversation:

We mourned the unexpected loss of Sir David Frost, DK knew him well in the '60s and remembered playing a mini ping tournaments in their respective London flats. All the tributes have been so warm, he seems to have been universally loved. I liked Andrew Marr's particularly: "
... he changed the whole style of political interviewing, what could be said, how it was done, the whole approach. And I think today there are two types of political interviewer - those who've learnt from David Frost, and second rate interviewers." Full BBC Obit: Sir David Frost
Autumn - it's official, DK has put the time back to 7.30. Not all of us got the message, so there was a staggered start, but everyone was in agreement that it would be appropriate, given the height of the sun and the temperature drop in the water, so we will all rejig for tomorrow. Mertz and Sara discussed how much longer they will swim for, given that his threshold is 15 degrees the sudden drop made him think about it. He's taking a week off at home next week so it may be his last swimming window. We'd missed Sunday's swim due to a late night and it being his turn to set the alarm, and having had a pretty ghastly day looking after his poorly mother he needed it today.
The late night had been due to a village wedding, to which I wore another pair of Leg's shoes. I explained to Sara that we have now established a communal 'shoes closet', being the same size, although I certainly have been plundering it more often than she has recently. The shoes were high, very high and at the start of the event I'd sent her a picture of my feet with an estimate of 200 paces being the most I'd get out of them. She thought I was being over optimistic. She and the LE had spent the afternoon together introducing Mabel to Jagger (video evidence suggests a match made in heaven and will be shared at some point) and so I'd texted regular updates from the reception and my breaks during the afternoon, when I snuck home or out for a dog walk. I was bored, so were the shoes.
I'd also had the following yesterday from The LE: J
ust DK and LE this morn. Very 'autumnal' but the sea extremely warm and lovely. 
We discussed your texts to Legs with pix of your sparkly toes in the shoes and your estimation of your staying power.
I reminded DK of the fabulous Kirsty McColl song 'In These Shoes' ( and also her great song There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis) and we mourned her loss - killed by an out of control speedboat, while snorkelling ( she headed towards it to push her sons out of the way).
Also talked about other smart lady lyric writers, like Cyndi Lauper.
We were joined at the end by one of the LOTVs.  Didn't recognise her because I think she's become a redhead since last week....!
Jagger still talking about his new BF Mabel. Hope you got the vid Legs took of their game, which I sent on.??
1st September today and DK suggested a 7.30 start from now on - but I'll let him confirm with you.
Happy Sunday!