Okay so I’m back from spending a bit of time bobbing around from island to island in the Atlantic Ocean and what could be more hip and cutting edge than being taken on a cruise? oh yes! Complete with both Queen and Andrew Lloyd Webber tribute nights (makes various metal gestures and does that whole, rather boorish, Gene Simmons tongue thing). Despite doing the whole smart casual dress code thang* and heroically failing not to eat and drink too much I had a grand old-time.
But, I hear you ask, ‘how rock and roll was it, thou exalted high potentate of love?’ well, apart from some good listening time and reading Steve Jones’ biography Lonely Boy, not vastly. Oh, apart from getting to meet Jimi Hendrix that is. Yup, you heard me.
I got to set foot in Africa for the first time too, which I am chuffed about**. First stop was the casbah, the fortress up on the hill above the port where we were rightly seized upon as the walking wallets we were, comparatively, by all manner of local hustlers desperate to sell us leather bands, jewellery and charging us to take photographs of us next to camels. After fending off all comers with a firm ‘Non merci, monsieur’ I strode off to the ruins with my daughter, to return a few minutes later to my wife having paid a certain amount of Euros to have my son’s picture taken next to a kid^ which had been thrust at him. The goat was, as my wife was very bemused to find out, called Jimi Hendrix!
All together now, Hey goat …
750 Down (still).
PS: Jimi stayed at Essaouira for about a week in 1969 – enterprising folk have made a small cottage industry out of it ever since – this was a very good article about it here.
*which made me look even sexier than normal, by my own reckoning.
**at Agadir, which was pretty charmless I’m afraid, but you can hardly blame somewhere that was effectively razed to the ground by an earthquake in 1960 for not being architecturally interesting.
^of the goat variety.
Yeah, but did the casbah have a record shoppe?
* asking the real questions, here
Nope there was nothing much to rock up there. Salim don’t like it …
A good place for herbs, so they say.
Sounds like a fun break. Is your son into GOAT?
Sadly not, the irksome little rebel is only into modern classical music. We gave him all the advantages in life too (sighs).
Wonderful! I can imagine Captain Stubing invited you to his table for the Queen tribute?
That Jimi Hendrix stuff is pretty fascinating, actually.
Isn’t it just? I had no idea until my mum told me there was a connection, yesterday.
I have now taken to accosting passers-by with one of my chickens, which I am insisting is called Bon Scott.
Bon Scott the chicken! Can’t see why you wouldn’t make money off that!
Time to cue up some TOTO Africa!
The cruise ship entertainers beat you to that one on Tuesday night. Man ….
c’mon on down to Deke’s Palace where the GRASS is GREEN and the Girls are Purtee!
I hope someone was looking after your chickens.
No we sacrificed them to Poseidon in exchange for fair winds, safe passage and 20% off gin.
It’s what they would have wanted.
Maybe you should tell the locals there about the Brian Johnson thing. Perhaps they will let people fire off the canon to the tune it’s in honour of.
So cool great comment under the cannon photo..hahaha
It’s absolutely true too! Boom!!
Cruises, Africa, and Jimi reincarnated as a goat?? Sign me up for this wacky cruise!
Sounds like a nice way to spend a few days away from home. Not sure I’d be comfortable on a ship for that long, though. ‘Gilligan’s Island’ really did a number on me. I couldn’t survive on coconut cream pies and banana peel radios alone.
Welcome back ashore.
That may have been those strange mushrooms we had that one time for a starter …
That would make sense.
Sigh. The last blog I just read was a trip to Berlin. Now I see you in the Atlantic, going to Africa…I’m so jealous.
Hey, you get to wake up in Canada every day – I’ve always wanted to go there!
If you enjoy certain herbal tastes, then July 2018 will be the time to come to Canada. I have a feeling there will be a lot of people coming here after July 2018….
Umm, oregano? Basil? Parsley?
Sure, sure 🙂 Anyway trust me it’s gonna be big.
Make a date of it folks…were all going to Mikey’s July 1st 2018! Dorito’s and other snacks will be provided by Mr Books!
No that’s a misprint. The location is going to be a bar called Deke’s Palace.
Sorry, Deke’s bra?
Deke’s Palace! Open since 1985, apparently, according to his comment today that Kick Axe played there in 85! 😉
Wait, did I get a vote? 🙂
I just can’t believe they’ve legalised Turmeric!