I am writing in Woodbridge in Suffolk - at my brother in law's house. There is a connection between this location and B Eno and I have this silly idea that one day we might bump into each other in the local 2nd hand bookshop. We have just been out for a walk round the town in the cold wind and sunshine - yet again no sight of the fellow.

Yesterday we went to see Rob and Wendy in Melbourn - and went for a stroll around Cambridge in the afternoon. I finally caught up with the Electric Miles volume - at a mere �13. The first few Chapters build up the Miles myth - the ability to know who is calling before he picks up the phone. The book starts by observing that many people can say where they were when the first heard Miles and when they heard of his death - and of course I can answer those questions confidently. I also have the suspicion that the last time I was in NYC, staying off Broadway in the West 70s I was close to where Miles lived when he was making his electric music. I can also add that courtesy of Robin I have visited the place where he died - right at the end of Route 66.

I had a good talk to Laurence about his studies of record production at the Academy of Contemporary Music and also about his trip to Japan last September. L is very into the kind of hip-hop that is coming out of Boston at the moment - he played some to me and it sounded just great - related say to 70s sophisticated soul esp Curtis Mayfield. I talked to him about about how the Philly rhythm section moved into early orchestral disco.

Laurence was interesting on the transience of local musical scenes. Last year Cambridge had a thriving punk ska scene. His band was part of this - and there were a number of bands in the same locality exploring aspects of this genre. There were clubs and gigs and an audience who wanted to hear what they were doing.

This year this has all dissipated. I said that this rang a bell in my life - there are times when there is a convergence of activity on a centre in some form. Its great while its happening and you can never tell how long its going to last and where its going to end up I said he really must go to NYC because there's more often than not something on the go. At the moement L is interested in a group of hip-hop artists centred on a block of flast in Brooklyn. He is developing the key antennae to detect when people are really seriously engaged creatively with pushing a form forward - and the resolve to seek it out. Oddly enough, it was in Japan that he first saw people who felt that way about rock n roll.

I gave Rob, his dad, a copy of Lullabyes. Rob suggests I walk along Hadrian's Wall with him next May. Tempting.