Sunday 20th August 2006

Wade, Aria and myself took a walk down to the South Bank this afternoon. 99% of the people that live in London are idiots, because when I lived here I never did things like this and if Londoners generally did, you wouldn’t be able to move. But it’s great – there are performers, food stalls, a lovely relaxed atmosphere by the Thames, space to move freely, things to see. I’ve walked along the South Banks countless times but I don’t know if I’ve ever done it on a Sunday because I’d never seen this before. From the London Eye, right down past the Tate Modern to The Globe Theatre, there are things to see.

We stopped by a large stage that had impressively been erected and saw a large group of people, predominantly old, sat around in a large semi-circle of chairs, watching some Jive dancers. Should ‘jive’ have a capital letter? Anyway, it was a very British, almost seaside sight, and it warmed the heart to see the delighted looks on the oldies faces as the young dancers did their stuff, encouraging the audience to clap along and do hand-jive moves along with the music. I mean, they LOVED it. They were beaming. And the dancers were really very good, but you couldn’t help but stare at the audience rather than the show. Then, as their performance was coming to a close, people just seemed to move, one by one at first, and then as a tide, into the open space in front of the stage and start dancing. They were not in the least self-conscious, really getting into it, and it’s so rare so see that in this country. Standing by the river wall, other spectators started to clap and move to the music, as if under some sort of trance – it was almost unnerving to see people enjoying themselves so very, very much. I don’t think they’d intended to come and watch the jive dancers, they’d just been walking past and stopped to watch the show. Now they were dancing along. I don’t know why I found it so amazing but I did.

There are strange things a-foot down on The South Bank. Aria had been telling me about these two young girls, aged about eight or so, who float around almost mystically, holding roses, and who both Aria and Wade are convinced have magical powers. One time they were down there, one of the girls sold Wade a rose for Aria, and an hour later they fell completely in love. And wired stuff started happening to lights. Anyway, we were walking along when Wade spots one of these girls, who are twins and have extraordinary blond ponytails that curl outwards and upwards from the side of their heads, and rushed off to catch her. He looked slightly suspicious racing after a young girl, but I went after him and felt slightly strange when we stopped her for a chat. She’s got a strange aura around her.

Wade is used to meeting A-list celebs, but he too was nervous talking to this young girl. She does have powers. She speaks like an adult, completely self-assured, but not in that ghastly way some very middle-class children can be at parties. “Hello. My name is Daniel. What is yours? I like geography. Do you know who Brunell is? He built my favourite bridge.� No, she was charming, with a young, eight years old’s face, and was dressed as an eight year old would dress, but was an adult as soon as she opened her magical mouth. Wade told her that the last time he got a rose off of her, he and Aria fell in love. “Well yes… You would� she said, matter of factly. Then she rose her hand to her mouth to hide what she was saying and whispered something to Wade. He got a flower off her and handed it to Aria. I don’t know what she said to him, it wasn’t a sales pitch because he was wanting a rose anyway. I must find out more about these twins. You too must go and meet them.

I had my own mission, to find a singer called Lily Farthing. You might recall on Thursday I met Amechi for the first time at dinner and we went to a party. Well Amechi was on the front cover of a recent issue of The Chap magazine, looking splendid in top hat and tales, for an article called ‘How to dress for a pop concert’. Well, joining him on that cover was a remarkable looking girl, and investigation inside the magazine revealed more photographs. I’m not odd or perverted, but I’ve been drawn to the photos of this girl frequently. So on Thursday I asked Amechi who she was and he told me her name is Anna, but she goes by the name Lily Farthing, and that she plays the piano on The South Bank. This was the principal reason for going down there.

Alas, Lily wasn’t about, but Wade and Aria bumped into friends and we sat around for a pint. The discussion turned to entrepreneurism. How we are always coming up with ideas, but only a few of us ever actually carry them through. We see millionaires on the TV – and they are the proactive ones. Walking along the Thames, Wade told me an idea that he’d been sitting on for six months. I leapt on it and gave my own version of it, plus a name. It’s a quite astonishing idea, web based, but I can’t tell you yet. I’ll tell you when it’s online, and the reason for this is that I’m forever coming up with ideas and not seeing them through. Wade and I sat and promised each other, with a hand shake, that we will see this through. It’s brilliant. For the time being, I’ll just refer to it as ‘The Idea’. But I’ll give you a rough, perhaps misleading, hint. I bought the web address ‘gobalhangover.com’ today. It’s ours.

We toasted the idea. It had come together so quickly, at least in it’s basic format. How? Then we remembered… the girl with piggy tails. She’s magical.

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