Living A Dream

...for six and a half hours.

Where does the time go ? The more fun we have, even the more time we spend together, the quicker it seems to go - well, they do say "time flies when you're having fun".

And, boy, or rather, girl, or rather, beautiful woman : how right they are !

You're lovely...

:-)

AF@cafe.jaune.?

Friday Night's Alright For...

...getting thrown out of a night club in Covent Garden !

So I'll write more in here when I get a chance, when there's not quite so many boxes needing filling, but I just wanna say I had a fantastic night on Friday, especially as I hadn't expected to see you till next month.

I love the way you continually surprise me and keep me coming back for more - don't ever stop doing what you do, and being who you are...

Thank you a million times over...

:-)

AF@a.Chace.place.(again)

Time After Time

Well I wasn't going to post anymore on here after August, was / am looking to do something new, find a new identity online, but I couldn't really not post something after the wonderful day I had Friday, and rather than ramble on in plain words that somehow don't quite capture the excitement and fun and thrills and simple pleasures of a very special friendship and so much more, I thought I'd break with tradition, and post the song I wrote yesterday that hopefully sums up all these wonderful feelings, without going (too) over the top, so if YOU're reading this today or whenever, this is for YOU !

And the bucket is in the post...

This is called "Time After Time", nothing to do with the old Cyndi Lauper song, and is really just a heartfelt thank you for you, your friendship, your character, and everything, no matter what we are, what we have been, and what we may become.

And I can hear you rolling your beautiful eyes at my soppiness, but you know, sometimes a man just can't help himself when he's fallen for a woman, and maybe that's why he doesn't want to be a falling man anymore, 'cos at last his feet are back on the ground, or maybe just hovering a few inches above it...

Time After Time

I thought of all the things we’ve been through
Since that February day when I first met you
I never thought we’d last this long
Oh how could I be so very wrong ?

And I’m still here just the same
Trying to find new ways
To improve my game
All I wanna do is give you more
No matter what my fate
Might have in store

I’ve always known the score…

But
Time after time – you’ve been there for me
And
Time after time – you’re all that I need
Teach me to be patient - and give you some time
And anything else you need - whatever you have in mind
All I need’s a sign…

And as I held you in the pouring rain
Smoke on our breath but you still taste the same
I didn’t want to let you go
The most beautiful girl I’ve ever known

But that’s the way it is, I guess
And I shouldn’t look to change it
Just hope for the best
So I’ll just wait until you say
Whenever next we can meet
That’ll be OK

You know I’ll find a way…

But
Time after time – you’ve been there for me
And
Time after time – you’re all that I need
Teach me to be patient - and give you some time
And anything else you need - whatever you have in mind
All I need’s a sign…

Please don’t change your mind
Somehow everything will work out fine
And I’m sorry I’m such a mess
I’ll be fine real soon, trying my best
I’ve so much to give if only you could see
Just how much you mean to me

Friday night was such a special time
For a few fleet hours I could pretend you were mine
Lying close to you, breathing in your smell
One step closer to Heaven, a few steps further from Hell

So I’ll be here just the same
I know you never could
Be tamed
I love every crazy little thing you do
Change any one part
It’d no longer be you

How do you do what you do ?

But
Time after time – you’ve been there for me
And
Time after time – you’re all that I need
Teach me to be patient - and give you some time
And anything else you need - whatever you have in mind
All I need’s a sign…

And in the end, who knows where we’ll be ?
I’m happy to just wait and see
Time with you is too precious to waste any time
Wondering if you ever could be mine ?

And I like this just the way it is
Seemed to have found the balance
Of work, life and kids
So feel free to shoot me down
If I put pressure on you
To change things round

You know I can be such a clown…

But
Time after time – you’ve been there for me
And
Time after time – you’re all that I need
Teach me to be patient - and give you some time
And anything else you need - whatever you have in mind

You are just so fine…

:-)

AF@somewhere.closer.to.Heaven

Last Minute Reprieve

"'Cos life's too short for wastin'
Wastin' precious time
If time is what you need baby
I'll give you all of mine..."

Snatched from the jaws of defeat, once again...

:-)

AF@some.sort.of.peace

Six Months Ago

So, six months to the day and practically the hour, on that rare day.

Where will we be in six month's time, I cannot help but wonder ? I know where I want to be, right here, or rather, right there, wherever you are, virtually or otherwise, no other place I'd rather be.

But like you suggest, I'll just go with the flow, but, boy, am I feeling soppy today...

Can't think why...

Thank you so much !

:-)

AF@a.certain.time.and.place

Dambusting

On my way back home today after another good chit-chat (technical term), the second thought I had (the first was somewhat personal)(well...) was to remember this song by Rush, from the Power Windows album, way back in 1985.

Seems somewhat relevant given the subject matter...

Emotion Detector

When we lift the covers from our feelings
We expose our insecure spots
Trust is just as rare as devotion -
Forgive us our cynical thoughts
If we need too much attention
Not content with being cool
We must throw ourselves wide open
And start acting like a fool
If we need too much approval
Then the cuts can seem too cruel

Right to the heart of the matter
Right to the beautiful part
Illusions are painfully shattered
Right where discovery starts
In the secret wells of emotion
Buried deep in our hearts

It's true that love can change us
But never quite enough
Sometimes we are too tender
Sometimes we're too tough
If we get too much attention
It gets hard to overrule
So often fragile power turns
To scorn and ridicule
Sometimes our big splashes
Are just ripples in the pool

Right to the heart of the matter
Right to the beautiful part
Illusions are painfully shattered
Right where discovery starts
In the secret wells of emotion
Buried deep in our hearts

Feelings run high...

:-)

AF

Welcome Home

Glad you made it back safe and sound - have to reset my clock now !

:-)

AF

New Jem

Found this little beauty on Ebay last week - put a stupidly low bid on it, and ended up winning it !

So had to go to Ipswich today to pick it up after a dodgy deal in the station car park out of the boot of a car, but I'm very happy with it - written two good toons on it so far, though it does need a decent setup, as although it already plays nicely, I'd swear the bridge is set back too low, and consequently the whammy bar is sticking up
way too high for my liking !

And it's got 9 gauge strings on it too...

Ho hum...

Oh, and as expected, there's some debate about what colour it is - now the second "B" in "JEM7BSB" stands for "blue", as in "Burnt Stained Blue", duh, but opinion amongst family members here is divided between it actually being GREEN (Anna and Jack) rather than BLUE (me)...

Duh!

And he's called "Burnie", for the record : original, huh ? Just like my no-longer-a-teenager pink Jem is called "Jemmy", but actually that had nothing to do with him being a Jem, but I don't wanna go down that memory lane, thank you very much...

;-)

AF

Keane For The Extreme

Well I finally managed to sell my old Korg Triton Extreme 88 on Ebay for a fair price, and a Chelmsford delivery company turned up to collect it today, and apparently it's going directly to the band Keane, but the driver wouldn't tell me the address.

He said "Sorry mate : it's somewhere only we know..."*

Chortle !

;-)

AF

*The rest of the story is true, honest !

Down The Pan

From an interview with Steve Lukather :

Jeb: "When Toto came out your musicianship was your calling card. What happened?"

Steve: "It was name of the band. I hated the name of the band from day one. We should have called it the name we had in high school, which was Still Life. Toto is just too easy to make fun of. It is a stupid name. It really is. It is a fucked up name and I have always hated it. People would go, “What is the name of your band?” I would say, “Toto” and they would say, “No really, what is the name of your band?” When we went to Japan then the name of our band was on all the toilets and that really puts things into perceptive. The biggest fucking toilet company in the world is Toto. They make the greatest toilets in the world. You sit down on the toilet and you don’t even need paper. It reams out your bunghole. I think that is a good analogy to where we are at [laughter]. If I have to be a toilet then at least I am a high tech toilet."

As you can see from the above picture I took of the facilities in Houston, he's right !

;-)

AF@the.end.of.Toto.:-(

All Rhodes Lead To

I know, I know - I just miss you already, that's all...

Wish I was there - it looks lovely...

:-(

AF

Time flies...

...when you're having fun, and, boy, what fun !

Though I'm sure you pack several extra seconds into every minute I spend with you, you know.

How do you do that ?

Thank you as ever for another lovely time, even if you did tell me off for how I hold a knife, wondered why all my fave old rock stars aren't dead yet, and knicked my ham, egg, AND chips too !

Stay lovely, don't ever change...

:-)

AF@a.Chace.place

All Gone Quiet

Haven't managed to post much lately, though been busy, and went out to London on Tuesday night to Covent Garden and a certain well-known (to me anyway) bar there for a friend's birthday celebrations, and very nice it was too !

Off to Luton and thereabouts tomorrow to see another good friend for a movie night and more talk of a musical endeavour we've discussed a while ago back in May, and the first fruits of which were a couple of good musical ideas, one of which was an addition to an existing idea of mine, and the other was a lovely acoustic song about a certain special person that I play to Jack most nights to help him sleep.

Anyway, maybe I'll post some more at the weekend...

:-)

AF@the.end.of.another.working.day

A Special Anniversary (Again)

Right, now let me see : 2 (February) + 6 (months) = 8 (August), NOT July, you fool !

So how do I do this ? Control-C, Control-V, got it !

"This one's for YOU - thank you for an incredible six months.

Whatever has gone before, whatever is now, and whatever is to come, whatever we are and whatever we might be, thank you - I'll see it through, I promise : we do click, and we do connect, just wish it was more often, but you are doubly delightful, or should that be trebly ? You tell me..."

And, boy, what a lot can happen in a month !

See you next Friday...

Fingers and indeed everything else crossed !

:-)

AF@another.milestone

Thank You

...for an unexpected conversation, in many ways.

Perfect timing, as ever...

:-)

AF@his.friendly.tree.again

So Much For That Idea

a.k.a. "Just when you thought it was safe to leave the studio..."

After being openly positive in a phone call on Tuesday, suggesting times to meet, how to work things, etc., etc., my newly-met drummer has decided tonight he can't commit to this "project", and has withdrawn his involvement.

Just like that...

Via a frickin' text message !

So much for that idea then...

:-(

AF@square.one

We Can But Hope

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers

by Gerard Baker

The Times
Friday 25th July 2008

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

:-)

AF

Why Worry ?

"Worrying is like riding a rocking horse – it doesn't get you anywhere..."

True, true...

:-)

AF