London Calling

Todays P&L: GBP -350.00

Todays Booze: Still clean

Todays soundtrack: Varied


I was doing nothing in the markets today, didn't really have a grip and wasn't paying much attention. I was up about one hundred and ten pounds then rashly shorted, (sold), the DAX 30 too late in the day, so ended up with a loss. Damn, wish I was drinking.

Music today was London based, it is surprising how many songs mention or about London. I am not a Londoner but I love this city its the nearest I have to home, although Bangkok comes close as my second home. I remember when I first came to London to live. I had been here before as a child but mostly on my fathers ships or going to Heathrow. Coming here to live was odd. My mother still hadn't broken it to me that we were leaving the North West where I had been for a few years and was in school. She took me for a walk around the city and we had a drink in a pub near where the Shakespeare theater is now. I was twelve but could get served a pint even then. It was a Sunday and the city was deserted, then we moved towards the West End which is always busy.

Recently, I walked around the Old Victoria docks, I remember them from when I was about six, then they had lots of ships and they hummed with activity, I don't ever remember them being as crowded as the docks in Liverpool, which when I was at school, we would go and meet my father when his ship arrived. He worked for one of the oldest British shipping companies, Blue Funnel we called it although all the ships were named after Greek myths. I think the first ship I went on was called the Memnon or perhaps the Menastheus. I remember my mother picking me up from school and driving along the dock road and their being hundreds of ships. The Royal Docks were never that busy but my father assures me that in the sixties there were miles of ships. Now it is quite desolate, it is an extraordinary place but it hasn't had the rebirth that Canary Wharf had and its just on such a massive scale it is difficult to see what could fill it up. When I first moved to London Canary Wharf hadn't been built and the whole of the docklands was a mess. The people were forgotten about, "economically nonviable" was the term the government used. But that was London the wastelands of the old docks to the overpriced boutiques in Bond Street. My mother took me to dinner in Belgravia that first evening, there wasn't anywhere in the North West that had places to eat like that then. I guess apart from the ship, the most expensive restaurant I had been to at that time was the Clarence in Dublin. Anyway I fell in Love with London, I like to think I know the place as well as most but even now I find myself getting lost sometimes.

My favourite London Songs:

Baker Street - Touch and go with this and my second choice, but I think this just edges it, partly because Rafferty is a jock in exile also. The lyrics mean a lot to me, the world weary "He's got this dream about buyin' some land, He's gonna give up the booze and the one night stands And then he'll settle down there's a quiet little town and forget about everything". Or what about that feeling everyone in London has had at one time "Winding your way down on Baker Street, light in your head and dead on your feet, Well another crazy day, you'll drink the night away and forget about everything. This city desert makes you feel so cold It's got so many people but it's got no soul and it's taken you so long to find out you were wrong, when you thought it held everything." Shit this song could have been written about me and maybe twenty million other people.

Waterloo Sunset - This song is almost perfect, it is one of the few songs that I really, really wish I had written and it brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it. Something about this song just seems so right, when I hear it I stop to catch my breath. You walk around somewhere like Waterloo Station with all the people and nobody stops, nobody takes a second. I am sure Waterloo is nothing like it was when the Kinks wrote this track but all I need is to hear those opening lyrics "Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, flowing into the night, People so busy, makes me feel dizzy, Taxi light shines so bright, But I don't need no friends
As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset, I am in paradise". This song makes me feel alone but it makes me feel good about being alone.

Tempted - Not specifically about London, but Squeeze are the quintessential South London band. I lived in Deptford / New Cross for a while, what a shit hole. Tempted reminds me of the daily dramas that go on all around us without us ever knowing. People say life isn't like the movies, but the truth is that it is. My life is like Leaving Las Vegas. If you live in a city, just take a look out your window, all those people experiencing pain, sadness, passion...whatever. My problems aren't any more important than anyone else's just because they came with a higher price tag.

In My Darkest Hour - Ok Hanoi Rocks were Danish and this song doesn't mention London, but they were based in London and this song clearly is about London. Reminds me of an allnighter in the West End with my guitarist, we were freezing after getting thrown out of a Chinese restaurant. We wondered down into the underground to keep warm. after a while a train pulled up so we got on it. It turned out to be the Heathrow loop we woke up a few hours later sprawled out on the seats, late for school.

West End Girls - Two pretentious gay blokes who carved out their own space. They should never have been successful but Neil Tennant, who was a music journalist, took a look at the current music scene and said "I could do better". Many people say these things but he actually went out and did it. West End Girls was a huge hit in the UK. I guess there is some kind of lesson there. I had lots of opportunities practically gifted to me and blew all my chances.

So there it is, There could have been plenty of other songs, I listened a lot to the Pogues, Madness, the Jam and XTC. I am not a Londoner but this is my home.