Weekend 15 & 16 May 2010

Saturday was a day of errands: Went to the library to get a movie, because to my surprise, Netflix won't let me stream movies when I'm not in the USA. How they know my computer isn't at home, I don't know, but they've blocked me from watching anything. But to my slight annoyance, the library charges for taking out videos, and their selection wasn't too good anyway. Ken has some DVDs here; I'll manage. I also went to the Post Office and grocery store and farmer's market, so most of the morning was taken up with errands and cleaning.


Later in the day I went for a walk in a different direction than usual. I went around the Tate Museum to the big road by the river, which is called Vauxhill Bridge Road up by my place, Millbank Rd when you round the corner by the Tate, and Grosvenor Road a little further on. And then once you leave Westminster and enter the City of London, it becomes the Embankment. Or I think that's how it goes. You can see how confusing it is to find one's way around here. A single road changes names at least 4 times.

 Front of the Tate Britain Museum, on Millbank Rd.

 Neptune, Perhaps, Atop the Tate Britain?

 Winged Lions on Side of Tate Britain

I didn't walk too far, but I did study the bus stop maps to see if I could figure out which buses run down to the Westminster Bridge, as I want to go over there next week. Even between the citywide bus map that I have at home, and the maps at the stops, I still had trouble figuring out which bus to use. I guess I'll just wing it when the time comes.


I decided to turn left, at a sign pointing to the Pimlico Tube, thinking, again, and again mistakenly, that I could just sort of walk around the block. An hour and a number of times stopping people to ask directions, I found my way back to the Tate, and then back home. Whew. My little evening stroll turned into a nice long walk there.

Sunday was a very busy day. I have class all day, starting at 10:00, so I need to be on the Tube by 9:15-9:30. And Fatah was due in from Paris; he was to meet me at the college so we could spend as much time as possible together. I was a bit late getting to the Tube, and of course they'd pick that particular weekend to close the trains that I normally use. Since there are many ways to get to a particular station, I was able to figure it out, but it took time. I made it to class with just enough time to set up my laptop.


This class was very different than Liz Greene's. This one was by Lynn Bell, and she was talking about interpreting retrograde planets in birth charts. Whereas Liz's class was very intellectual, scholarly and philosophical, this one was very technical. Lynn explained that when the inner planets, Mercury and Venus, go retrograde, there is a period during which they are visible in the night sky, looking like they've stopped and then as if they've turned backwards. But at some point in their retrograde cycle, they will meet the Sun, and will no longer be visible, because the light of the Sun will outshine them. Then, later in the cycle, they get to a position behind the Sun, and they show up as morning luminaries. She linked the different parts of the retrograde cycle to different psychological states. It was a bit above my head, but I wasn't the only one who was having trouble with the technical details of when the planets are where.


Part of what Lynn was saying is that retrograde planets bring energies that are unexpected. If you look at Mercury, for instance, and think of him symbolizing communication, intellect, and rapid ideas, then retrograde Mercury can signify a blockage in communication, problems with expression of ideas, etc. The subtlety comes with the part of the retrograde cycle, and one must know the technical details of how many days a particular planet's retrograde cycle is, when in the cycle the planet and Sun will be conjunct, when they will separate, etc. 


The funny thing was that during her lecture, all kinds of unexpected things happened. A breeze made the blinds rattle in a particularly annoying way. Someone outside was moving a cart full of dishes and dropped and broke a bunch of them. A horrible noise started hurting our ears, and it took quite a while to figure out that it was the hot water radiator that was squealing like some kind of alarm. Suffice it to say that we experienced the unexpected chaos that Lynn was telling us can happen with retrograde planets.


So after 7 hours of straining my brain on that, I was ready when the class ended to go meet Fatah. It was just beginning to drizzle, which meant my plans for walking through Marylebone with him to find a good pub probably wouldn't work. He was a little lost, but we finally found each other and by then it was really raining. Not drizzling, but coming down hard. No fun at all. We stopped in a fast food place to use the bathrooms and figure out what to do, and we decided to go home and eat at the pub near my house.

Fatah at the White Swan Near the Flat

We were both so hungry that I forgot to ask someone to take a photo of us together. After dinner we walked the two blocks to the flat, and Fatah got to experience first-hand what it's like to have to walk up 65 steps. But then again, he lives on the 7th floor of a building in Paris, and the lift there sometimes goes out of order. I remember it did when I visited them in 2005, when it was 100ºF outside. So I guess he knows all about climbing up to the apartment.

We Skyped with Pascale in Paris so she could see him when he first picked up his new guitar and played it. It was fun to all three be together, in a way. Nicolas had already gone to bed, so we didn't get a chance to talk with him. But Fatah was busy with the guitar anyway.

Fatah With His New Taylor Limited Edition Guitar

The guitar has a lovely, deep sound to it. Fatah would be playing it, and then in the middle of a chord progression or even a vocal line, he'd blurt out "I love this guitar" or "Listen to this sound".


He was very sweet and played requests for me: some of his old songs, some of the songs he'd covered from famous Amazigh (Berber) artists, etc. And he played a song of mine that I'd taught him many, many years ago. Then he showed me a new tune he's working on, and tried to teach it to me. I got part of it, but Fatah's brain is a lot more musically complex than mine, and what comes easy to him is still difficult for me, so he'll have to have patience. I promised to help him by singing when I come to his place in late June. We sang and talked until both of our voices were tired.

The Hand is Quicker Than the Eye

Fatah Singing His New Piece

Isn't that a lovely guitar? With such a great story to go with it, I'm sure it will provide Fatah with lots of inspiration.