Posted 3:00 PM by Dave Allen
Gang of Four reforms. Yes it does. The interest has been there for years from many people outside our camp and yet within it we could never agree whether we actually wanted to do it. I for one have railed against nostalgia in past newsletters and columns so that's the hurdle that I placed in my own path regarding band reunions, not that it's insurmountable.
November 8th and I find myself on a United flight to London's Heathrow; I even got upgraded to business class. 6.55 AM November 9th and I'm searching the arrivals area for Hugo. 7.10 AM there he is. It was suddenly real, as real as the London drizzle basting the outside of the Heathrow Express as we head in to Paddington Station. We join about a hundred people in line waiting for a taxi. It's at this point that I realize the dollar is worth about 50 english pence, in other words two dollars to the quid. I ruefully presume that Alan Greenspan knows what he's doing as I am to read in a few days that Bush's Treasury Secretary, John Snow, whilst visiting London said that the US would be doing absolutely nothing to slow the dollar's descent into the basement against other currencies. Other countries can now help pay down the debt of US consumer excesses, but I digress.
London's Mayor, Ken Livingston, or Red Ken as he's affectionately known to the inhabitants of Greater London, came up with a plan to combat London's legendary traffic congestion by imposing a daily tariff of about £7.00 (yes, $14.00) to drivers who enter central London so now we speed through light traffic from Paddington. I use speed without irony as at one point in very recent history Londoner's crawled along at a pace less than that of 18th century horsedrawn carriages. Me and Hugo are dropped off outside the Euston Travel Inn. For the price of a suite at the W in Seattle, £90.00 or $180.00, we are offered a room with a twin bed and a pull out couch. No thanks. We park our bags and head over to the offices of Big Life Management in search of Jazz Summers, the man who will be managing the reincarnation of Gang of Four. Cat wrangling comes into my mind but that might be the jet lag.
To be continued.