Wednesday, May 31, 2006

31/5/06

In DP's Bar, Dylan plays loud on the stereo - two local men in their 70s sit at the bar drinking bottled ale and making recommendations - on the wall photos of local celebrities (mostly from the old TV series Crossroads) and a huge pencil sketch of a semi-naked Marilyn Monroe; in the corner a pile of board games for drinkers to sit and play - the windows are full of maritime detritus: odd concoctions of nettings and dried fish, a stuffed crocodile, buoys etc - Tim is in the bar tonight, sculptor and boat maker, he has just finished building a 46 footer called Ganymede - he grew up in Hertfordshire, studied Building in St Albans then moved here to Aldeburgh by way of Barcelona - he tells us of the raves and outdoor parties that still go on out here, huge affairs still organized via phone and text messages etc. as they used to be way back when - he talks in detail of his dub reggae collection and in particular his love of a remixed 'Dark Side of the Moon' - the bar closes but nobody is asked to leave, indeed a few young locals turn up and tap on the locked front door and get let in with familiar 'hellos' - Dave, the barman, comes over and sits with us - bespectacled and bearded, maybe in his late 20's - Tim asks him to play his Hoover at which we are momentarily baffled until he brings over the metal length of suction tubing from a vacuum cleaner, with the cleaning head still on, and starts to blow into it - it makes the sound of a didgeridoo, and he blows with the same circular breathing technique - we laugh in amazement, he continues, changing the tonality and playing on - who would have thought something like this existed in quaint old Aldeburgh?

1 comment:

maldoror said...

oh there's a lot more'n'at in aldeburgh, believe you me. there's more to know about quaint old aldeburgh than there be about the queen of sheba.