Sad cat

There's a little cat in the next door neighbours' yard who wears a cone of  shame around his neck, and one of those little blouson jackets designed to stop him scratching himself. I've never seen an animal look more sorry for itself. I called to see if I could get him to come closer. I wanted a picture of his sad little face for this blog. I made the "puss, puss, puss" sound that all cats seem to respond to, and he eventually ambled over, albeit suspiciously. Unfortunately the gate to the yard was closed, and when he tried to stick his head through the bars to join me, the cone around his neck prevented him and he got stuck for a bit. I felt dreadful! 

I'm at The Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell, watching Eric Pulido from Midlake doing a set with a number of special guest slots provided by mates of mine including John Grant, Fiona and her husband, Paul. Beautiful music, sublime singing, great musicianship... But the hottest venue I've ever been inside! As Nathan said; "I'm chafing just standing still."

I spent the entire day doing admin for the requiem release. Who'd have thought releasing an album was such a mine field? I've spent much of the day close to tears, taking one step forward and three back. I even had to buy a friggin' bar code today! There are licensing forms galore and I have strings of letters coming out of my ears. And all the time, I'm sitting in a cafe because we have no Internet at home. I wish I had someone with me who understood this crap, because there's a massive learning curve cropping up with every new email! Meanwhile I'm proofing the art work and trying to get final musical notes to PK before the album gets mastered... My shoulders hurt like hell. Is this stress? 

On September 3rd, 1662, Pepys noticed the days shortening for the first time. The 1660s were still an era when people's lives were dictated by sunlight hours. For much of the high summer, Pepys was up at 4am, which had dropped to 5am by this particular date. 

He went to an auction in the afternoon to watch old Navy stock being sold off. Auctions in those days were controlled by a candle; people would keep bidding until the flame went out by itself, and the person with the bid at that moment would be the winner. Pepys met a man who reckoned he could tell the moment that the flame was about to go out because it always flared up a bit. He must have been on to something because Pepys watched him winning bid after bid!