the great eat soup hunt part 1

i get paid on friday...

so, traditionally, i have not a bean...

last thursday it was my sister felinity's birthday and i managed to turn up twice to see her.. as i was going to see wole soyinka be interviewed @ the BBC world service...

i can't quite believe i haven't blogged about that already...?

so briefly:

i was nervous, i'd been to bush house once before, years earlier, when my old friend Becki worked there and i'd just moved to london, she arranged for me to meet her and play a grand piano which she recorded onto a DAT tape for me...

lovely woman that Becki, fiddler from the Red Herrings...

anyway, i was that kind of subtle nervous when in the room with Wole Soyinka, the kind of nervous that makes you want to shout out or giggle really loudly (it was a recording)...

i asked a question, i don't know if my question will make it to the program but i'll let you know if it does, it's being aired in the week of the 29th may, 90 minutes of time reduced down to 26 minutes, he was talking about his uncle the reverend ransom kuti, who he'd been meaning to write a book about, who had died making it impossible to write the book, but still wanting to get across the atmosphere of his childhood he elected to write about his early years, which ended up as Ake - the years of childhood - one of the books i've got listed over there on the right, which was why i was invited to the recording...

so anyway i asked if the reverend ransom kuti was related to fela kuti, (the nigerian james brown) and it turns out fela kuti and wole soyinka were cousins, fela being the reverend's son, it was only a tiny question so it might get in there...

in the weeks prior to the day i was searching for my copy of ake, it was only when i spoke to josiah that she reminded me that i'd leant it to her... so i didn't have it with me to get wole to sign it... it would have so cool if i'd have had it because almost everyone else had the same edition of the book, only me & harriet having the edition i've got... (harriet whose name i've forgotton - who asked the questions of wole soyinka)..

anyway, all this talk and still not even a mention of the actual birthday drinks with felinity...

and still no beginning to the soup story... buckle up folks, this'll be a long one...

on the same day i had done my dawn project and then worked over @ hammersmith where i'd had my teaching observed by my boss... (she's just emailed me her report, i'm a little scared to read it)...

i rolled up @ the chandos to meet felinity and her G and we had a gin... strategically edging towards a larger area of the room to accomodate the later arrivals...

before i left we'd secured a whole side of that bit of room, space for 15 or so, us 3 were trying to make it look full...

so i went off to the BBC and after went straight to the EAT on the south bank to take advantage of an offer from timeout, a free soup and bread... only they'd sold out of soup...

so i met with dinah and i spent almost the last of my money on a little less than my share of the bill for chi, £6 all you can eat noodle place that felinity showed me...

we returned to the chandos where that same space was now full of felinity's friends, livejournallers, and real people...

and a lovely night was had, felinity's G very funny with an idea for the 10person bag of wotsits...

felinity lovely as ever...

but look that's tired me out, only the start of the soup story...

you'll just have to wait...

x