Tuesday 18 September 2012

High Tide00:26 (2.60m)
Low Tide06:20 (0.70m)
High Tide12:32 (2.80m)
Low Tide18:54 (0.40m)
Sea temperature: not taken and some dispute between DK and I about whether it was warmer or colder than yesterday, I certainly felt it was warmer yet he felt the opposite.
Sea conditions: ripply waves
Weather: Sunny but with a very cool breeze.
Joined by: Jo and Mertz
Topics and conversation:
Had Mertz been fired? DK and John were surprised to see him this morning, it being a Tuesday. Normally he's gone back to his office by now and it's totally thrown us all, especially me. As this village has  an older population than most it led to various anecdotes about how the hell people cope when they retire and find themselves in the same house ("a wife/husband's for life, but not for lunch" being one friend's mantra). DK has always worked from home, since he stopped touring, so it wasn't an adjustment they had to make. I can't see me ever adjusting as we are so used to being apart.
Are we all better? - I had swum alone yesterday as I had an early start teaching in deepest mid-suffolk but today we were together again and all seem to be 100%, except The Shaman. I'd swum for ages, loosing track of time without the others, and only got out when I saw her on the beach. She's just back from Nepal, where she's been learning all kinds of wonderful paint and gilding techniques, but she has returned with the dreaded Katmandu chest. We were due to work together today but I'm not sure she'll be well enough, she's almost see through.
Jo's morning drama - she arrived late as she'd been blinded by the sun driving down the street and as she turned into the car park she been hooted at and this had upset her concentration, leading her to drive into the bollards. She was shaken yet retained her sense of humour, asking if someone could go and see if she'd left a body on the road "I don't think I hit a person as there wasn't a dull thud" she said reassuringly - she clearly knows the signs. She was shaky but determined to swim and had a quick dip. I'm amazed and awed by her on a daily basis, she's got 30 years on me and yet has the energy and enthusiasm (as well and the style) of a twenty year old, despite having been really rather unwell over the last year. The only thing she doesn't have is spare flesh to keep her warm and this caused some squealing this morning...so maybe it is colder.
Sadly DK's No. 1 Son didn't get the job on the West End musical, but the MD was VERY complimentary, he needed someone with experience at that level but said that if they were taking it on tour he'd have been the man. Maybe they will one day. As always DK was very philosophical about it, I hope No. 1 son will be too. At least it means he's free to get on with his own music. 
Whilst this was not on the topic list today I realised that I didn't print my exclusive, which I gained access to by sneaky means. Last week a friend and I went on a pub crawl on our bikes (she said she wanted to get fit - hence the bike part of the evening - not sure the 3 pints of cider helped) and we ended up at The Anchor at the end of the evening, where DK and legs were propping up a table. I don't know how we got onto the subject of Hawaiian war chants but we did, and as a result my side ached for 2 days. I print below, with permission, the words he sang in the pub that night with their context by way of an excerpt from the draft autobiography. Legs even joined in gamely, only to be corrected by DK "It's not ah-too-ala-ho! It's ah-too-ala ah!!" but she got the last line right. One day I'll get him to do a sound file for me...


CHAPTER  9    “The Singing Group That Sizzles!”

When we weren’t on the road doing summer seasons, Variety tours, concerts or TV appearances, The King Brothers could usually be found at home in Essex rehearsing new material in our parents’ front room. Prior to our first recording contract, we chose our repertoire ourselves, usually standards and current hits like “Rock Around the Clock” but also the odd novelty song like “The Hawaiian War Chant”, which in fact none of us now remember choosing, or at least will own up to it. It began like this:
Ta ah-too-ala ah-too-ala ah-waheela
Ah-oo—wana-la ah-pee-lee-co ah-loo-ala
Ta ah-too-ala ah ah ah-too-ala ana-la po-wee-a
Pah-oo-lah-ee   
Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!
...and continued in much the same vein.
We had no idea what we were singing about and having just Googled the song, it appears we might have been singing the wrong lyrics anyway, but the audience at the Sheffield Empire certainly never noticed and according to the local paper “went berserk” when we launched into it, especially when we donned crepe paper leis for the second chorus. I might run through the number for Michael Palin one day just to see his reaction, he’s from Sheffield.




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