Against the Dark

Getting A Life is getting close now, and I am working as much as possible to try to cover my finances while doing it, alas the bills won’t pay themselves!
However, I’m taking a warm up trip next week, the Venice Biennale finishes just as I stop work, so the only way to see it was to squeeze it into a short break between work patches, and with G away on a residential school trip (Butlins…classy!) I will be seizing the opportunity to nip over.
It seems I am determined to put myself out of my comfort zone (not that hard in reality), and with a strong desire to make the funds go absolutely as far as possible, I shall be spending the first night in a Youth Hostel dormitory near Cambridge Station (and there was me mocking Butlins!). I have a gig in the Barbican on Tuesday evening, I will be in Venice by 8:20 the next morning, let’s face it, I’m not exactly going to hit the sack for very long in between!
And then there’s the accommodation when I get there. To be honest, water is not my strong point. I would not need past life regression therapy to find out what happened to me, I’ve had recurring nightmares about water all my life. Some really classy professional moments haven’t helped. Very public vomiting (to be clear, it was travel sickness, not the result of self inflicted over indulgence of any sort…perish that thought!) on a ferry between Tenerife and Gran Canaria for one. And then there was the time I had to board a small rowing boat along side Christopher Hogwood, to get from a boat that dropped anchor off the coast of a small and beautiful island off the Brazilian coast, while the rest of my colleagues jumped into the crystal clear water and swam ashore. I can still feel the shame, what an experience to have missed! (Does, however, feel good to report that nowadays, at least, I would be straight in the water. Anxiety you won’t beat me now!)
So, obviously, I’ve chosen to stay on a boat! When in Venice…? But it’s tied up, and the description ‘sea views’, well it’s not the sea exactly, right, just a big… river…?! Eek!

If you fancy a look at the Biennale, do checkout ‘Venice Biennale: Britain’s New Voices’ on BBCiplayer It’s only on there till Monday 2nd October at 8pm). It’s a beautiful programme, and a moving tribute to Khadija Saye, the 24 year old photographer whose work is being shown in the Diaspora Pavilion, who died on June 14 in the Grenfell Tower fire.