To Charing Cross Road tonight after an afternoon at ENB in search of an M-Audio 24/96 Microtrack, which is definitely my next toy important acquisition. Sound gear enthusiasts will probably know exactly which shop I mean when I said it had the best price, but didn’t have any in stock. Lucky Rose Morris who are just around the corner, and always stock the things that the other shop advertise. The last few times I’ve had the intention of buying something that cost anywhere between £200-600 pounds, I’ve gone to shop X first because I saw the advert, and then to Rose Morris to actually acquire it because X don’t have any.
This time, X didn’t have one, and Rose Morris was shut, so I came away empty handed. I’m not so upset about it; I just felt like doing something racy after an overdose of adrenalin from sight-reading a piano reduction of the scherzo from Prokofiev’s 5th symphony in a full call. There’s nothing like belting up Piccadilly on a bike to a toys-for-boys shop to do that.
On the way back, had one of those cyclists’ epiphanies on Westminster Bridge, where you realise why you love your bike and why you love London. The lights on the London Eye were just the perfect colour contrast to the rainy march twilight, and if you’re on a bike, you can just get off and take a picture. You can be a tourist in your own town. You can look at London with the eyes of a child from another country, because you’re not all bitter and twisted from trying to get places on public transport.
