Lateral thinking

Shawn’s birthday. At lunchtime Barry and I went up to meet him and everyone else at the Town & Gown. I was in a weird mood, I don’t know why.

I bought 3 boiled eggs just for the hell of it (16p each!) while Shawn got pissed on all the vodka and oranges everyone bought him. He was really drunk and as his eyes got bloodshot they gradually merged with the general colour of his face. He walked unsteadily back to Wollstonecraft, all the while an evil and inane grin spread across his face.

In the evening a few people went to see The Psychedelic Furs at Medusa’s in Watermouth, a surprise birthday present for Shawn, who'd been told it was sold out. Bev persuaded Susie and I to go see Julian Bahula’s Jazz Afrika at The Shelter instead. We twisted Barry’s arm until he reluctantly agreed to come too. All the way into Watermouth Susie and Bev amused us and one another with lateral thinking problems.

Tickets were £2.25 each and, as I seemed to be the only person with any money, I ended up paying for everyone. We seated ourselves at a table stuck away at the back apart from everyone else and the band started almost immediately, a jazzy sound with afro rhythms and a Weather Reportish bass player. Jazz-rock I suppose, but pretty infectious. They did no less than three sets, each one more enthusiastic than the last until finally everyone was up dancing, strange and swaying, all smiles and twitching feet.

We left before the end to get the last train back.