It was another brilliant day out in London yesterday even though at times on Friday I didn’t think I would get there. First of all Colin went to get my 10 pound day return ticket from the Rail Office in the morning, only to discover that 7 April was excluded from the offer due to several sporting events on in London and the cheapest they could offer was 25 or 39 pounds! So he went home and phoned me and I had the same result when I tried to reserve a ticket by phone. I was so disappointed having set my heart on going and finally decided to have a go at booking a ticket online to goby bus. The first attempt involving a very early departure but to arrive in London by 10.30 proved to be fully booked. Another even earlier departure went by such a roundabout route it would still arrive at the same time and was expensive as you had to pay for the long detour as well! Finally, I booked myself onto a bus leaving later at 8.30 am to arrive in London at11.50 am, but as there was no time to post the ticket I had to choose from a list of available collection points and the nearest was Bristol!
When I phoned Colin to tell him later, with the bad news that I needed him to collect my ticket as the office closed at 6 pm and I had to go to my second job after work and wouldn’t finish until ten to six, and he wasn’t very amused! He said he would have preferred another trip to Bath to buy the ticket at the office there, but of course by then it was too late as I had already paid for it online. We arranged that I’d drop off the printed out info at his house on my way between jobs and he would go and get the ticket.
As I was driving from his house to my second job suddenly a terrible storm started. It rained so hard that it was impossible to see where I was going even with the wiper blades on full speed and the roads were awash with water and mud and badly flooded (this storm after a whole day of normal rain). I knew he would be even less amused driving to Bristol through that. I was finding it hard enough going myself and wondered if I’d ever reach my second job - I did finally, half an hour late but managed to work at twice normal speed to get everything done in time.
I wasn’t looking forward to the evening, thinking Colin would be incredibly cross with me but amazingly he was in a really cheerful mood when he came to pick me up, even though with traffic jams it had taken him two and a half hours to get to Bristol and back. I was so relieved. We had a lovely evening at our usual Friday night pub. I still had the bad news that I needed picking up at the bus station at 2 o clock Sunday morning but he had already seen that on the printed out details and wasn’t too worried about that either. I said I would get a taxi though which he thought might not be a bad idea, even though he would have been willing to pick me up. However, as I knew he was going out for the evening with his son, I didn’t want him to risk driving if he had had a lot to drink, which is sometimes the case when they go to rugby together.
Colin picked me up at 7.30 on Saturday morning and although the weather forecast was horrendous rain I just wore a sweater and fleecy jacket and carried an umbrella just in case. I wore jeans and trainers which is more practical. Last week the heeled shoes I wore killed my feet after a day in London. I phoned Victor before leaving home and he said they would be playing at Walthamstow market due to the forecast of heavy rain and explained how to find them when I got there.
The journey to London wasn’t too bad - we left on time at 8.30 and arrived on time. I got off a little before the final destination when the driver offered to stop for anyone who wanted to get off at Earls Court. I had this option just in time because once we were in London I thought I would check my mobile for messages in case Claire had phoned and there was a frantic message from Victor (I’d forgotten to switch on the phone!) saying that he’d tried several times to reach me and say they changed their mind when they saw how good the weather was and that they would be at Portobello instead - so I phoned him and he was able to confirm they were there. He was relieved to hear from me, thinking I was already on my way to Walthamstow!
I finally arrived at the market and then about 12.20.They were taking a break having already done their first set and it was nice to have a chat. When they started up again I really enjoyed listening. I think I like their music best out of all the bands I know. It’s the addition of the bombo drum that makes it that extra bit special. I could listen to them forever and never get tired of their music. Amazingly the sun came out and I had to first take off my fleece jacket and then the sweater (I had a small sleeveless blouse on underneath!) and it was lovely to feel the sun’s rays beating down for the first time this year.
After their first set I decided to go and do a tour of the market and this time explored it in greater detail and was away for almost two hours. I bought some nice things, went into a pub for a drink, and generally enjoyed the ambiance of the market. I absolutely love the whole atmosphere of Portobello market and with an Andean band’s music to enjoy as well I can’t imagine any other part of London I would rather go! I even managed to buy a spice that is featured in Peruvian recipes which I hadn’t even seen in the list at the spice company where I get my Peruvian spices, so can now make one of the recipes that had been awaiting this item (annato seeds).
When I finally went back to the band they were in the process of packing up their equipment. By this time the sun had gone in, it was colder with a breeze starting up and the cloudy sky looked like rain. They had decided to go to Covent Garden instead. I was pleased though as I love Covent Garden too. They were getting a cab and I knew there would never be room for three of them plus all their equipment and me as well in one cab. So I said I would see them there as I had my day travel card for the underground. This time, even though large crowds were waiting for the lifts to take them to ground level I waited. I’ll never forget the very first time I went to Covent Garden on the underground with Colin and our friends Colin and Jenny and faced with queues for the lifts we decided to use the stairs instead. What a nightmare that was - it was a spiral staircase with about 600 steps and such a crowd was going up you couldn’t even stop to catch my breath. I was a bit plumper then and by the time I got to the top I was ready to collapse. We were going to a show at a nearby theatre and boy was I glad to fall into my seat there about 15 minutes later.
When I got there however I couldn’t find them! Lots of interesting street entertainment was going on which I enjoyed as I passed whilst looking for them. Eventually I phoned Victor (this is where mobile phones come in really handy!) and he explained and I found them a few minutes later. They weren’t actually playing yet which is why I didn’t see them. The buskers have to take turns to play at Covent Garden and they were awaiting their turn. I had walked past them somehow without seeing them. So we all had a chat as we had to wait a further half an hour for someone to finish. Victor’s girlfriend arrived at this point so I was able to meet her for the first time and really liked her a lot. She comes from Majorca and has been living in England for about a year. When it was finally their turn to play they were only able to for about 10 minutes as the rain that had been forecast arrived. So we packed everything up and were able to walk to their flat from there as he lives in central London. Whilst they took the equipment in, Catalina and I went for a drink in a nearby pub. They said they would join us in about five minutes and she asked me if I knew how long a Peruvian five minutes was and I said “half an hour?” and she said” no, more like an hour and a half!”
In actual fact they joined us after about 40 minutes, we all had a drink together and then as we were all feeling hungry we walked through to Russell Square and then a nearby large shopping centre to get to the” Hare and Tortoise’ a Malaysian restaurant and noodles bar. We had a really fantastic meal in there -excellent food and really nice prices too - our bill even with 5 pints of draught Japanese lager only came to forty pounds and we were all really full too! I had one photo left in my camera so asked the waiter to take a picture of us. I hope it comes out okay. After that we walked through to the underground station and went into a nice lively pub just by the entrance and I stayed with them until 10.30, allowing myself an hour to get back to Victoria coach station. After embracing them all goodbye Victor’s girlfriend came with me as far as the ticket gates before saying goodbye and expressed her hopes to see me again soon. I had enjoyed her lovely company just as much and had already told Victor that when they come down to Bath to bring her too.
It was another wonderful day in London, made especially so by their wonderful company. Throughout the day and in the evening I chatted with first on then another and all three of them are so interesting to talk to and in just the past few weeks have become valued friends. The more I get to know Peruvian people the more of them I want to know. Every one met and befriended so far have been absolutely wonderful.
I managed to find out a bit more info about the actual band Tarpuy. Victor, Edgar and Santiago usually onlyplay with the Paris members when they need extra musicians in the band for bigger concerts. Basically, being based over here they are almost a separate band even though they are selling 4 of Tarpuy’s albums. Two of the ones in France are brothers, and Edgar and Santiago are brothers as well. Edgar pointed out the website address of the Paris-based members and said I could get a lot more information there.
