Each September brings with it a change of weather, a change of light, a change of attitude as the summer leaves the shoulder and the winter head buts the soul. Its getting darker earlier and the leafs are falling on the garden. A feeling of nesting is all about me as cupboards seem like they need cleaning out and coats need to be put back on hangers. School has kicked back in and the steps are up early on the bus, back in the uniform and back in the learning head space. Riley boy is back at collage while playing in his band who were on the radio last night, sounded great too. Nat bags is at another film festival, Grace is going to Antigua with her pussy cat boss, Cissy is going to live in London at Uni, scary stuff. New Cross is not Firle, but it will be her home and im proud of her. Goldsmiths is where i used to go to see bands play when i was 17. Lol Coxhill, Kevin Ayres, and one night Hawkwind!, stoned indeed. I was that pothead pixie. Mrs D is being ever so wonderful and back at her art classes, and me im stuck in the same old September i was always in, one foot in this and another in that, with arms up against the chest. The Strypes are promoting the album, everyday a new adventure, a new stage, a new chart position, last time i looked it was number 5. (see below) Im so proud to be part of their journey, they are great people and i always feel part of their day when im in it.
Commitment mounts and all things pen and desk are just out of reach, there is much to do, now that ITV have commissioned both Glenn and i to write for the Danny Baker 6 part, to be filmed early next year. But first those cupboards need a tidy, the world needs to be lived in and tea has to be brewed. Life goes on and in that life remains the same patterns and the same anxiety that always led me into each new day. I feel scared and i feel humbled, i feel ever so grateful and loved, there is nothing to complain about at all. September is a bookmark in the year, a turning of a great page with the big finger of fortune, im lucky to be this person living in this day, a person who knows the height of the helter-skelter but not how polished the ride might be. I love this time of the year, i see the Fred Perry shirts going further back in the drawer, i see the white shirts and jumpers coming into focus, the heating in the house springs back into action. The house shakes like a dog just out of a lake. I feel like i need a new pencil case and a new pair of way finders. Christmas is looming in the near distance, its a corner another corner turned. Sunday’s are like mini September’s. and today is Sunday, so its a double feeling of change. Outside the grey sky is pleated with sheets of white, rain is nearby. Wind licks the leaves from the small trees in the garden, a hedgehog races from the bushes to the fence at no miles per hour.
Sid the dog, barks and misunderstands the life the hedgehog is trapped in, his weapon of sharp spikes cross eyes Sid and he retreats with a high pitch yelp to the back door. Beyond the back door, lunch and the September plans to de clutter the house, number 18. Where do we begin, one cupboard at a time would be perfect but all those who live with Gemini woman know, it doesn’t work like that. Im learning to do six things at once, and have done for about the last 20 years. I end up not doing any of them with 100% of my attention. In the end everything gets done and October comes around, the October of my life is here, confusing it being September, but my journey rattles on with more Gemini than Scorpio. A rough compass of my life tells me that the direction i am going in is largely due to a fair wind, a wind of good fortune. Across the sky the stars tell me where i am, where im going i will never know completely. Im here, i am that. Being is to discover where you are. Love is beautiful. Life is as above. If i could stop would i hear the sound of each moment, would i understand its value more than now. Im on a great game of snakes and ladders, i came down a confused and empty snake to find myself climbing back up the ladder of experience and wonder. With every September there is reflection and there is time to sit and look into the near future with all of the above and all of the fear each day offers. To let go and except that destiny is already taken care of is to be stronger than before and in the centre of the soul. A drastic haircut might sort me out! God knows.
The Strypes album has officially charted #5 in the UK with 11567 sales…Wow, thats great news! 35 years ago Squeeze first album was released, it did not make the charts, although the single Take Me Im Yours reached number 19.