Absent Friends Tour of Europe

Saturday 27th October 1990

LONDON

 

I must have fallen asleep at about 9.00 last night because I woke up about 5.30 this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep. My body clock must be in some kind of limbo between Sydney and London time. It would be about 2.30 tomorrow afternoon there.

I had a shower, and because I hadn't had a chance to do my washing before I'd left Sydney, I had a bagful of dirty clothes. I thought I'd go out and find a laundry. Of course everything was still closed and it was still dark outside so I wandered around for half an hour or so and came back to the hotel and waited till the hotel restaurant opened at about 6.45 and had breakfast.

I spent the next couple of hours writing in this diary and thinking about the previous days events. At about 10.00AM I walked down to the Kensington Markets which was full of great little shops and a kind of 60's renaissance was prevalent. I bought a pair of shoes and came back to the hotel. Just walking through the streets around here is stimulating. So many shops and incredible terrace houses and old architecture.

John (Mackay) and I caught the tube from our station, Gloucester Rd, to the Caledonian Rd station which is quite near the rehearsal room we're using for the next two days. Most of the equipment we're using is being hired (I'm using a Korg M-1) and the first couple of hours was spent sorting it all out. By the time we got to run through the songs everyone was a little phased out.

We knocked off about 6.00 pm and caught the tube back to the hotel. Sean must've been a little more phased than the rest of us because when the train arrived he was momentarily distracted and failed to board before the doors closed. We left him standing on the platform.

John and I went to one of the two Italian restaurants over the road from where we're staying and not only was the food average but the place was run by a character who was a cross between Basil Fawlty and Mussolini.

The band (Absent Friends) had been invited to a party at a place called "Fred's" in Soho for a girl called Sam who works for MMA over here. John, Dave and I caught a cab into town and we got off at Piccadilly Circus because with the traffic, cars and pedestrians it was pure mayhem.

There was a queue out the front of "Fred's" but fortunately Chris Murphy, (INXS's manager) arrived at the same time and ushered us through. I'd never met him before though I'd heard a lot about him over the years from my mate Neil Wright. He seemed very much in control of things.

It was only a small club but had three levels.The party was in the basement. I had a couple of quick vodkas on arrival. The place filled up very quickly and it was smokey and the dance music was very loud. I spent the latter part of the evening talking to a lady called Che, who, after the place closed about 2.00AM, invited me back to her shared house at Putney for a coffee.

We spent about an hour trying to hail a cab in the pouring rain in front of the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus and ended up walking down to The Ritz where we finally got lucky. It was all very dream-like in spite of getting drenched. All those places that were only names before have become real.

We managed to stay up talking for a couple more hours and I felt a bit like a naive wide-eyed tourist (I wonder why) to her rather cynical Londoner. By that time it was so late I ended up staying over, though it was all very platonic.

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