In London, that it be! The Royal Wedding.
It's difficult not to get swept up in the pomp, ceremony and nostalgia of the wedding while I'm here in London. The feeling of joy in the streets has become quite tangible.
When I was younger, and knew much more than I do now, everything was black and white. I was completely convinced there was no value in the monarchy.
Everyone has an opinion, much of which consumes more of their life than it probably should. The interesting point is that I have met so many people interested in displaying their complete lack of interest in the wedding. That is interesting in itself. And yet, there are people here so interested in this interesting event that they have sat for 4 days alongside the road, waiting to get the prime view of the newly married couple, William and his chick (whose name escapes me at the moment). These people have formed little communities where they interact and share together, even though a few days earlier they were complete strangers. (Shame on them for wasting their lives in such a matter.) My cabbie declared his complete "disinterest" in this. Surely he was receiving much financial gain at this time?
Those uninterested in the wedding describe these people as being anything other than sane. They are calling forth the Tower of London guards to promptly arrest them so they can be sent to an asylum. I, of course, agree with them…….And now , for a more noble use of my time, I'm off to watch a soccer match in a stadium. I'm going to view a little white ball through my binoculars, and scream at people I don't know when that ball doesn't go in the direction I think it should. And I'm going to yell even louder at those folk next to me who think the ball should go some other way.
Now that I'm older and know less than I used to, to be black and white on anything seems to me rather foolish and naive. But thats what happens when you get older.
I can see my friend Emma now, cross-legged sitting in front of the TV in her Basso townhouse, cheering with raised arm and fist at every glimpse of the Royal couple. I too, will join in and wipe a tear from my eye, seeing people happy for no particular reason at all, but just enjoying being part of the event, and living.
Oh yeah, I think I'm actually meant to be talking about London rehearsals with Yusuf (Cat Stevens). I've re-acquainted myself with the band today, and I'm slowly getting my tool kit together. I'll be setting up the workbench tomorrow to modify and setup Yusuf's guitars.
This is the type of tour bus used for bands these days. We have two of them for the crew. They have an upstairs and a downstairs lounge with a bar, TVs, games and sleeping bunks upstairs. They cost about $700,000. We travel on them between cities overnight and it's great to get the travelling done while we are asleep so that we can enjoy discovering the next day. So far we have travelled from Stockholm to Hamburg, then to Oberhausen, and now we are in Berlin. I woke up yesterday just in time to see the fresh green fields flash by as we moved towards Berlin. Amazing wind generators everywhere! Indeed.
