The notes from the double bass pound out a jazzy beat whilst the drums/cymbals keep time on the instrumental “Everyday” by Cinematic Orchestra…

I got a text message from A yesterday in the afternoon asking me if I wanted to tag along to a bar where she had read DJ Food and Jason Swinscoe (from the awesome Cinematic Orchestra) will be on. Quite good timing seeing as I had just finished my module and had nothing to do with my evening. I love it when a plan comes together. A good dose of free music is always good for the soul.

I went and met her right by the London Eye/Millennium Wheel. I had always seen it from afar cutting into London’s skyline, glowing like embers in the night with the rest of London’s riverside buildings. Seeing it up close I was surprised it wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. You know how judging size becomes difficult when you see things far away (e.g. aeroplanes)? Well, I’m so used to seeing it from across the river where it looks especially huge. To me, it looked similar in size to how I remembered those Ferris Wheels at fun-fairs.

A was in an especially good mood having acquired about half a day’s pay in tips. Gotta love those city/wide boys who believe the size of their tip is directly proportional to their… erm, salary. It was good seeing her again and she pointed out that this was the first time that she could converse with a friend in a language that surrounding folks wouldn’t understand. I must admit it was strange being able to talk to someone, who wasn’t my parents’ age, in my mother tongue. Nearly all of the young people from Myanmar, especially those born here do not speak the language. I was surprised A could speak it fairly well and read a little too, especially because she was born here. Me, I was born back home, can speak the language but as far as reading/writing is concerned, I’m totally 100% analphabetic-cum-illiterate. I also met her friend J and what a surprise it was to find out that we live in the same town, right after we were discussing how because of its size, London can grant a person anonyminity to walk the streets with low chance of bumping into someone you know. London sure bestows its denizens a cloak of anonyminity at some level because even though J and I live in the same town, probably within 20 minutes walk of each other, I’ve ever seen her around before. I guess it’s because we both never really hang out in our hometown with the exception of a trip to the supermarket.

We headed to Old Street, a reknowned mecca of trendy DJ bars. There’s also a road going off it where we went to have dinner, which I learned was a reknowned mecca of Vietnamese restaurants. I hadn’t seen so many on a single strip of land since Chinatown in LA. So much choice always introduces the need to overcome irresolution and decide which restaurant to go with. Naturally, we went for the most packed, because it’s got to be the tastiest. Oh, and the waiters hitting on you has got to be a bonus! A asked our waiter directions to a bar/club and he said he didn’t know but asked if she was going to invite him there. A didn’t hear/understand what he said and asked him to repeat himself. Even after repeating himself, she still didn’t hear/understand so asked him to repeat himself again, after which he left us alone. I figured she must be immune to chat-up lines by now because she genuinely didn’t hear what he said. It must have looked like a complete shrug-off from his point of view and it surprised us to find that he didn’t charge us for the tea we ordered. A good dose of free tea is always good for the soul.

We headed over to the Bridge and Tunnel, which was a nice cosy little bar with quite a good sound setup. We found out that A had got the dates mixed up and the DJs we went to see were not spinning that evening. Not a massive disappointment because the band that was there (I can’t remember their name) were really good and something new. It’s amazing how every so often you’ll hear an unknown band in a small venue who are so much better than some of the other prominent artists out there. Music is a cruel business that subjects us to the artists with the best marketing management and not necessarily the best music. Seeing bands live always has the effect of making me yearn to be in a band again. I just really miss having people to jam with.

We made the wise decision of leaving before the last trains arrived and decided to walk to Liverpool Street station. This however was the wrong choice because they had closed the station due to a fire alert and there were masses of people piled up outside waiting to go home. Nearly everyone outside were talking on their mobile phones, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had closed off that portion of the street too, due to the high concentration of phone radiation emanating from a fairly small area.