Grand Tour

Sunday Arvo

Through all this sudden cold, London has brought us one golden spring Sunday as F and I drive down in the packed car from NW10 and into EC1. At this moment, I crave summer with every fibre of my being, more so than ever before! The pallid white English sunlight of the warmer months can never compare to the giant yellow flesh-cooking skyborne inferno of Down Under, but nevertheless it's more than welcome.
This afternoon's stop on Mike's Grand London Tour of Restaurant and Hotel Duo Gigs is at the end of Kingsway, the one big straight(ish) street running north-south from Euston Road to Aldwych. Our engagement is at the Bank Restaurant, a generic name for a generic place. Kind of reminded me of the ship a bit (ugh!) with its red plastic cushioned chairs and green glass ceiling, but it was a welcome contrast to the dreary grey of Bush House across the street.
Big windows, lots of mirrors - some light and air, and consequently quite a different crowd to the usual herds - families with little kids (some little toddler came up and gave us a £10 tip!), and thirty-something women out for lunch with friends, some of which may or may not have caught my eye as they passed by. Me, I was too busy trying to keep bass tumbao in the left, piano tumbao in the right and trying to sing unison lines in Spanish with F, so I probably looked a little confused - d'oh!
No grief from the management, a nice, free lunch, and we wrap up the three-setter no troubles. The diary is filling up with engagements of this sort, and I love all the work, but I need some other stuff now to counter it - some more band work, a hipper scene to hang on (maybe talk to some girls!?) - F and I talk of plans for maybe a night sometime down the track, proper advertising and all. Could be something....