You... Don't... Know... What... You're... Doing

I jumped on a southbound Charing X train, only to be told, when the doors had closed, that it was 'Going to Edgware... Oh no, sorry, Morden. Via the City'.

I could change at King's Cross, but don't like doing that these days, if I can help it. For one, it's always packed; for two, I was on the platform when the July 7th bombs went off last year. Yes, that's right, I was there. Of course, as seems to be my lot, I wasn't there in any way that makes for a good anecdote or tale of heroism. I do have an abiding memory, however, of the southbound Piccadilly Line platform being packed, so I made my way slowly towards the less crowded back of the train. Just before a train finally did pull in, the platform guard was telling people at the FRONT of the platform not to push and to stand behind the yellow line. It was here that the bomber got on the train. I hate getting on to crowded trains - I'm over 6ft, and hate standing with a bent neck near the door - so I let it pass; 2 minutes later all hell broke loose and we were evacuated. I remember one guy refusing to leave the platform and just shouting at the platform staff 'You don't know what you're doing', while the rest of us just shuffled away.

Anyway, today I trusted my iPod to shuffle all (11019 tracks). I've had to take some music off recently as the iPod's full, so there's less Classical on there these days and no books.

So:

The Camera Eye - Rush. Coincidentally about commuters and the en masse movement to work,
Morning Dew - Robert Plant; I'm a big fan of Led Zep, but not of his country-tinged recent stuff. This album, however, contains a cover of Tim Buckley's 'Song To The Siren', which is why I bought it,
Other Voices - The Cure; another recent introduction, and my prejudices are being re-shaped - nice bass line,
Afraid - David Bowie; didn't really notice this,
Jupiter! - System 7; Steve Hillage & co with some nice ambient-ish stuff,
Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac; good for driving to, but I wasn't really in the mood. Reminds me of an old girlfriend at Uni,
Je Veux -tre Noir - Manu Dibango; a former colleague gave me this. It's okay if you like this sort of thing,
Summer Rains - Ash Dargan. I asked a friend, who was going to Austraia, to pick me up a handful of Australian rock music CDs, for a different perspective. She bought me back a compilation of 'native Australian' music, the sort that could be picked up at Tesco's,
God's Song - John Martyn from 'The Church With One Bell', an album of covers,
Regeneration - Kraftwerk; a short track which seemed to pass me by,
4 Plus 20 - Crosby, Stills and Nash. I'm a recent convert to CSN(Y). Pleasant enough,
Can't Keep It In - Cat Stevens. I don't why this guy was such a big hit in the '70s; There are one or two good/great tracks on this compilation, but there's a lot of mediocre stuff as well,
The Wake-Up Bomb - REM. Something happened to REM just about Green, and I don't like it,
Flying Away - Robert Miles, from 23am. I haven't heard this for ages, but it was surprisingly engaging. He does make the mistake, however of getting his young son to make noises on one track, which is almost always a bad idea: we recognise and salute your fertility, just don't bother us with it (see also Yes 'Circus of Heaven' and many others),
Sacrifice - Patrick O'Hearn. This chap was in Frank Zappa's band: hard to believe from this melodious 'New-Age' type stuff,
Traffic Jam - Artie Shaw, from 50 Big Band Classics. I don't know where I got this, but it's very interesting - only spoilt by the rather muddy recording.

That's it for today. 'Flowers for Algernon' is turning into a very good read (I knew it would, as I vaguely remember a Radio 4 dramatisation from 20 years ago), so I'll read that on the way home if I get a seat.

T 3; M 4; D 4