Son et Lumière

We had a very agreeable evening yesterday. I'd arrived home, shocked by the surprise of having to work for a living (it is so terribly time consuming and I just don't understand how people do it all the time), and immediately met up with some friends so that we could embark upon Nottingham's Light Trail. This was part of the fabulous 'Festival of Light' that the City Council had organized and the whole thing was a magnificent spectacle of beauty, music and dance. The entire city was ablaze with creations of light – my friend Greek Adam had illuminated the caves of the Castle so that they breathed with colour and music (it was a right old son et lumière manifestation, I can tell you). There were drums and dancers all over the city; weird swirling colours were being projected onto buildings; women & men on stilts and wearing outrageous costumes were juggling with fire; the streets were packed with people as if at a religious festival in some exotic South American town. It was all so beautiful, and so I say 'well done' (at last) to the City Council.

For any normal person, this extraordinary exhibition of light would have been intoxication enough for one night – but of course, I'm not a normal person. So instead, a whole crowd of us repaired to the Shaw's where Johnny was hosting one of his famous Jazz Nights. The place was heaving so after one drink we moved on to the Broadway which had been decorated, for the occasion, with charming table lamps of outlandish golds and greens, all sporting decadent fringed shades – it transformed the long Mezz bar into something like the Orient Express. Later still, back at my apartment, Mr Smith from London called round (with, surprisingly, his own beer) and regaled me with his tales of excess and debauchery before we embarked on a second round of drinking and until, incoherent with alcohol, our arguing about world politics became nugatory.

I am paying for my exuberance now though – my head is as thick as a Witney blanket and my throat is like the interior of a fur glove. And it's Saturday. Now that I have to go out to work in the week, I need this day to get things done. Mr Smith has left for work (yes, he even has to work at the weekend - imagine that?) and so I have to get up off my ass and sort things out. I could use a different kind of 'light night' tonight, that's for sure. Tally ho!