Tuesday, August 30, 2005

The naked fiddler

Tom has gone to Berlin for the first leg of an LPO tour that will take in a) Germany, b) Italy and Switzerland, c) Bucharest, Zagreb and one or two other unusual places with long names. He arrived in Berlin this evening. His suitcase didn't. Here's hoping it turns up in time for the concert at the Philharmonie tomorrow, otherwise the Tomcat will have no tails and may have to go on in his birthday suit instead.....

Here's a very small something from the Indy today to provide a little diversion. I promise that the stories are ALL TRUE. Printed version is nice, if you can get hold of one, because they commissioned a fantastic cartoon for it. (No, it doesn't involve any nude violinists.)

Back home, I've just emerged from a snowdrift of book proofs, which I've now given back to my publisher, quaking. That's it. Anything that didn't get changed is going to be on a shelf somewhere for longer than I shall be on this planet. Every time I looked at it, I found something more than needed to be remedied..... Anyway, the jacket proof is wonderful - and all I can do now is sit back and wait. Time to get on with the next one. Theoretically, at least. Next week I'm going to meet Tom & the band in Lucerne for two days (hope it's stopped raining); the following week off to Rome to interview a very special singer; and a few days later a welcome holiday in France will be upon us.

More seriously, we've been massively churned up today by the pictures of New Orleans virtually underwater. Our very deepest sympathies from London to everyone caught up in the devastation brought to the southern states by Hurricane Katrina.