The Official Chris Difford Website

March in Plaster

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March on, and that’s what we did, we marched on. I loved getting dressed up as a woman for the Nirvana video, it was a cold day on the boating lake i can tell you. I don’t think i came across that well as a woman, a bit of a bloke in woman’s clothing. In my day when i was a boy…it was all the rage, on the TV Benny Hill, Dick Emery even the Two Ronnies everyone dressed up that way, its a great British lean towards the vaudeville.The song sounds amazing on Radio Two, where it sits very nicely, its being played a lot, but radio plays do not translate into sales, those days, like men dressing as woman on TV are in the past. So i can gloat about the plays and feel happy that im out there, but it doesn’t really put a whole lot of beans on the toast. Glenn looked amazing in his sinister pensioner disguise, like he was going to murder me with his silence, which would get him ten years in the studio. Banged up to rights. Together i think we made a great video at a relatively cheap cost, thanks to our great team. During March i played a few small shows, none for cash, supporting Paul Carrack at The London Palladium was a real treat, i loved every second of it, and having Melvin under my arm was wonderful. I really had a nice night. Paul was great on stage and my Mum would have been proud to know that i played in such a prestigious venue. I also played with Jools, a fun night, it was great to catch up with him and Suggs, we shot the breeze over a few dodgy chords flying right left and centre. The following night a memorial for my old mate Matt, it was a quick stab at a few songs to a few pissed people and some friends too. Im not sure what Matt would have made of it all, possibly a smile and shrug of the shoulders. God rest him. Its a nice time of the year, when things start to edge greener, and the sky seems closer somehow, and then further away.

Time perches on your shoulder like an owl wise and secretive, you never know where you are with time, one minute im on my computer minding my own business and the next everything stops and drifts into slow motion. A&E in Eastbourne was just like it is on the tele, odd people sitting around waiting for their names to be called, and Doctors marching around with clip boards. They look worn out. A machine dispenses shit coffee and time passes like a slag heap at a coal mine. Four hours passed by and then Louise got to see someone, and quickly an x Ray. She fell, she screamed and she knew the pain so well, a broken bone. The really dull news was that the x Ray showed that Lou had to go for an operation on her leg, but not in Eastbourne. Hastings is 20 miles away and i crawled over there with Lou in pain by my side. Once there i discovered that the place was closed, but luckily a night porter saw me and we were wheeled in, well, i wheeled Lou in. Along dimly lit corridors to the fracture clinic, Lou stayed the night and i drove home. Early the next morning and im back, back to see Louise wheeled into theatre, i was told to go home for a few hours by the nurse, and so i drove back along the A27 for lunch. Its Easter break so the kids are at home, so they had to be farmed out. Later that day and Lou is in a ward with assorted woman of all ages, she looks brave, but i can feel her pain. There was drilling involved and some bolts, thats all i needed to know. Six weeks of no standing on that leg, kids to ferry around cooking and washing deadlines to meet its a woman’s World. Heaven delivers these twists for the trying, and now im gently lowered into the routine of having no Louise around the house, a big hole is created in the time frame of home. The washing machine seems easy enough to handle, im not great with the cooking, lunches are fine. Its all part of this. Poor Lou, she loves being busy but now she is sat in a big chair with books and the garden to look at, like some retired Mother. There i was just on my computer researching some songs and then this, and here we are at the end of March lucky with life and love. On the horizon, more of the same with bells on.

So a hobby is a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one’s leisure time. Hobbies can include collecting themed items and objects, like guitars, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, like writing songs and playing sports. Not my cup of tea. In the future, not long from now, you will see my hobby revealed. A million matchsticks have made up what i think will please and entertain. I am my shed. Also around the corner Squeeze, and our summer of festivals, our Autumn of possibilities and who knows what. Around the corner six weeks of house bound domestic bliss, and each day races by like a horse at the Grand National, there it goes and the odds are there will be another one along when i close my eyes.