Well life isn’t so dreary after all, even during a recession. I don’t know what the saying is about things coming in threes, but in my case good things happened three times to me in a couple of days. Mind they did follow three miserable days after my dumb argument with Gigi. Finally we agreed to meet to discuss things and I’m happy to say, after a long and serious conversation, we are together again.

This followed the good news earlier the previous day that the band will be back at the Oval Tavern in East Croydon at the end of the week on Sunday the first of November. Graeme the manager phoned me and we sorted out the gig without any problems. Well no more than the usual problems. I still haven’t got any transport so it means I have to go down by train. It also means that Bernie Pallo and Dino Coccia won’t be present either, but Al Vincent and Pete Miles will dep for them.

The night after the phone call Gigi and I went to the Skiddaw and decided to eat there. Unfortunately we were so busy talking that by the time we went to order, the kitchen had closed. That left us with a choice of a takeaway or a restaurant. The options were a Persian restaurant in the Harrow Road or an Italian restaurant in Maida vale. We opted for the latter and walked around there.

 After we had eaten and were finishing off the wine, the proprieter suddenly made an impromptu announcement that one of the diners had agreed to a specially request to sing a small piece from the opera. Unaccompanied, she came up trumps. Her voice was brilliant and we were treated to a truly fantastic performance and afterwards various diners, including us, went to her table, and thanked her. Later we were joined by a friend who uses the restaurant regularly yet has never heard anyone singing there, so it was one of those serendipitous events. Life gets better by the minute.