5.45 start

I woke up at 5.45 this morning, in order to get to work for 7.00. It was too early, and it felt it. Karma Police was the first tune that came up on my shuffled playlist. As I listened, I fell in love again with the drumming in the song. In the verses it's so simple, so devoid of frills or fills, so "boom-tish, boom-boom-tish," then virtually absent in the choruses, until one moment of brilliant thunking before the coda / refrain...

Karma police, arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio

Karma police, arrest this girl
Her Hitler hairdo is
Making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party

This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get when you mess with us

Karma Police
I've given all I can
It's not enough
I've given all I can
But we're still on the payroll

This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get when you mess with us

here's the energetic drum fill

And for a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself

For for a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself

...and then really simple again until the end. It's as if the last few words, about losing oneself, refer to the drumming breaking out of the rhythm that had been established all through the song. It's beautiful. As the song drew to a close, the bus pulled into Fallowfield and disturbed a flock of gulls. I was upstairs, at the very front, and saw the dirty white birds scatter up in every direction before me, like sheets of paper thrown out of an upstairs window.

I got to Old Trafford cricket club for the DVD launch, and was pleased to find out that our conference room looked out onto the pitch. Well, until I saw it...





The last time I was there it looked really different. It was like looking at the surface of the moon.