A lot of people came to the pool and pier party. The landscaping of the pool is very impressive, rare and protected newts swim in the pool. The pool is regarded as a village asset and there has been collective action in the past to safeguard it. I met several new people from the village and some I already knew. Geoff was there with his young girlfriend from Botswana, Tebe. It turned out that when I was in Joburg on business I was staying near where she studied dress design. Geoff said his flat was in Kew and this brought to mind how I used to go to Bob Brearley's den at the top of his parents' house in Kew when I had just left school and was studying jazz at night school - where I first met Bob. I also thought of him as I listened to Barney Kessel today - it arrived from Amazon while I was away. Bob turned into a demon bebop guitarist and was always pretty good.Cathie turned up just as the party was starting and worked away like mad to keep the show on the road and clear up afterwards. Dr Z has been impressed with the intellectual quality of his Polish hosts in Warsaw.

This morning there was an e/m from Paul W about the DVD Nick Drake Under Review. I hadn't heard of this and am turning over in my mind whether it needs to be secured. There is a blog review here:

http://rarerarefind.blogspot.com/2008/05/nick-drake-under-review.html

There was also an e/m from Francis. Bette has worked on Francis' project, the Learning Grid. I saw on Sunday that Francis had posted on Linkedin that it was his birthday. I mailed him reporting that the day had also been celebrated by Bette with the pool and pier party. He replied suggesting we have lunch this week. I wrote to James McG at Gilbert's suggestion to see if we can post his comments on the Longer Stories on LastFM.