I've only got two days of writing/practising before I present all my work at the Royal Standard on Monday.
I was back in London yesterday playing a gig in Kilburn. The name 'Kilburn' sounds sort of pathetic. I wrote a poem about Kilburn once. Here it is, for reference.
Kilburn
I've got this new toothbrush.It's like cleaning my teeth with a razorblade;
but in a good way.
“Where are your shoes?”
Says a girl opposite me on the bus.
I nod towards the bus driver, who turns, smiles and winks.
“He has them” I say
“I swapped them for this toothbrush”
“Where are you going?” She asks.
“Kilburn” I reply.
In normal circumstances that would have killed the conversation,
but luckily my gums were bleeding;
she was intrigued.
We spoke for a while,
until we reached Kilburn.
I stood up to leave,
but passed out,
before I could get off the bus.
I have faint memories of her stealing my wallet,
but obviously,
as someone without any shoes,
she didn't find much.
She did however,
steal my toothbrush,
which, though the root of today's problems,
was the only one I had.
------
I'd never been there before, but it's quite an accurate portrait of the place.
Actually that isn't true. I quite liked it. We ate noodles at a place with formica tables, and then we drank in a beautiful pub (actually, we drank rum that we bought from the offy, but we did drink it in the pub). And we used the Overground to get there, and as I may have mentioned, the Overground is my favourite mode of London transport. It's for poor people who want to get round the city without going through zone 1 and it goes to semi-ridiculous places and it's a bit slow and annoying and always busy but without anyone ever understanding why. Fantastic.
Kilburn High Road reminded me a bit of Green Lanes between Manor House and Wood Green. Good kebab houses and a constant stream of human traffic - it's a mainline between two stations (Brondesbury and Kilburn) and it feels like it is both a destination and also a pit-stop between places.
And, obviously, it is home to the 'Kilburn Bandits'.