1997
5-6.3.97
A Walk with Patrick.
I go for a walk with Patrick through high misty forests to see his new house. I play with Emma, reading books, then we play with 5-a-side on the parquet. Our team wins a very rough game with an own goal in the last minute that just creeps over the line.
6-7.3.97
Tickets for Chelsea.
I go to get tickets for a Chelsea game. There's a massive queue and I'm the last one. A black girl serves me and leaves two one pound notes (not coins) on the counter. I don't nick them when I have the chance and she asks me why not. Then she shows me into the East Stand.
24-5.4.97
Drongos in My House.
I go home to visit mum but she's not in. Instead, there are loads of drongos who are pitched in a tent on the moors qnd are using the house as a sort of stop-over. They treat me like shit and I start plotting revenge. Some of the lads from football come round to practise in the garden so I put it to them that we give them a good kicking (I've spent ages trying to find my shoes but can't, so I assume they must have nicked them). I'm looking forward to said kicking when I'm woken up by the phone (Vladimir offering me some translation work).
17-18.5.97 (day after the Cup Final).
On the Ranch.
I'm on a ranch of some kind and see some guys trying to be macho by riding horses, so I get on one and start galloping across a field. It's great (the ground rushing under my feet and all that), but I come across the shooting of a Cowboys and Indians film which I don't want to be in so I take the horse out of sight around the side of a building (some kind of brick outhouse).
7-8.6.97
On a Bus with Olga
I'm on a bus with Olga (like on 500 Bus.stops). I can't see out of the window because her hair's falling down over my eyes and is in the way. We're having a laugh about something.
10-11.6.97
Unruly Class.
I can't control an unruly class so I send out a very blonde girl, referring to her as 'Blancanieves'. She ignores me, as do the rest of them. I'm not fussed. After school I go for a meal with John and Janette. Other teachers from the school see me and laugh at me because of my discipline problems, but I laugh with them, still not bothered.
7-8.6.97
On a Bus with Olga
I'm on a bus with Olga (like on 500 Bus Stops. I can't see out of the window 'cause her hair's in the way. We're having a laugh together.
June 97
Living in the End Room of a Long L-shaped Building.
I'm living in this part (see diag in original diary) of a very run-down building. At night a tramp calls to see me (a friend of Mark's - possibly Rod's alco mate from Paris. I play host for a while unwillingly then get rid of him. Then another tramp comes looking for someone who lives here (at the other end of the 'L'). I let him in then go out to watch Cowley Works' football team who are playing on a parks pitch near by. I stand on the top of a slope to watch. (It's a cross between Longsight Park and 'El Canal' here in Zaragoza.
3-4.8.97
Humble Pie with Merche.
I bump into Merche and invite her out for a meal, arranging to meet her at the restaurant. I have to go to a friend's house first to get the washing in from the 12th (top) floor of a building. I have to go down by ladder and I get a bit scared, trying to put my hands on it to steady it before I start my descent. Then I remember Merche doesn't know where the restaurant is, so I go home thinking I've fucked up. Merche rings and says "Estoy muy decepcionada" - I beg for forgiveness, we meet, I eat more humble pie, put my hand on her knee and everything seems to be O.K.
18-19.9.97
Film Show in London Suburb.
I meet a girl by chance, but just when I have to go to a 'philosophical' film show. I invite her along, semi-reluctantly, and she talks all the way through the film (which is brilliant; psychedelic aerial shots of Britain, volcanoes, the Mandelbrot set etc.) so I snog her to shut her up and we end up snogging for ages. I leave the film and realise I don't know how to get home. I'm in some light, leafy London suburb and it's still day.
23-4.9.97
New Class in Strange School.
I'm teaching a class that's new to me. There's over 30 of them. I teach them some letters and phonemes and then the bell goes. They all start eating as if in a cafeteria then it goes dark and a film comes on. I take my shoes off to watch it, then think I must have another class somewhere else. I start to panic, dash out of the room, realise I haven't got my shoes with me, try to find them, fail, panic some more, succeed, then think maybe I don't have another class after all.
13-14.10.97
Vague Nightmarish Recollection.
Someone (I think it's a girl) is spraying me with a kind of glue meant to paralyse me before she kills me. I realise I have to move my limbs, or something, before it sets. She's already done my arms and is starting on my legs. I struggle hard and just about manage to move one of my arms. The dream ends there.
8-9.12.97
Busking in Plaza España.
I'm busking in Don Jaime but for some reason I can't (maybe the mendigo's there) so I go into a shop (or possibly the new bar, Siglo XV) where I buy a bottle of wine and go out the other side. I meet the mendigo from the puerta de la iglesia and he turns right to come with me instead of going back to the church. I start to play on the pavement in the Plaza España and money starts raining in. The case can hardly holdit all. I go off for more wine leaving everything there on the pavement then I realise I shouldn't because someone might rob it (the money or the violin) but when I get back it's all still there.
17-18.10.97
A Tip by the Sea
I'm visiting a couple who live in a flat by the sea. They drink and smoke loads and the palce is a tip. They leave the door open. There's a bloke upstairs who I'm convinced is a murderer. We go for a walk along the sea front then return to the flat. Quite a disturbing dream (at times the couple was John and Janette, I think)
13-14.12.97
Wittenham Clumps
I'm on a train to Wittenham Clumps, but when I get off, the Clumps (which are now a huge mountain) are behind me with spectacular views, never to be reached. Alcoholic Dave is on the platform. I avoid his gaze.