13 August 2021

Today feels melancholic. My Dad was visiting yesterday, using me as a 
free camp site following a habitation check of his camper van. We went 
for a wonder by the canal, a curry and a few beers. It was a really 
pleasant time. It has been a while since I had a few beers in a pub 
with someone else. There was a surreal aspect with news dripping in 
about a shooting incident going on in Plymouth. We first heard from my 
Mum calling in a bit of a panic. It was interesting that my dad went 
straight to thinking there was an issue in the dockyard and the alarms 
were going off. We had a lovely evening and a couple more beers when 
we returned. Rude not to and all that. My Dad was sleeping in the 
campervan thanks to my Mum panicking after my garage was broken into 
last week. He left before I woke up which felt slightly odd. It put me 
into this slightly off mood. Combine that with having been tidying up 
for the week before hand then suddenly having nothing to do but read 
the news and you end up with this melancholy. My Dad said he was going 
to leave early as he wanted to be there to take my Mum for her next 
B12 injection so it was not a surprise or malicious. It just awoke a 
sort of remembered feeling from his not being there when expected as 
he had been called out for another towed array job in the middle of 
the night. The shooting incident turns out to involve an incel who 
reached breaking point and came a butcher, killing 4 adults and a 
young child before offing himself. Trying to understand such things is 
hard and certainly impossible to get within their mind set. 
Frustrating in how daft and tragic it all is. 

In an attempt to get out of my melancholy, I decided to head into the 
town centre. Partly for food and partly to return to a music shop. 
Admittedly it was a HMV which has recently reopened but it was nice 
browsing. I ended up buying a perfect mood album - Another Green World 
by Brian Eno. Yes, Eno is arty farty ambient nonsense most of the time 
but he has some fine albums. His first solo album, Here Come the Warm 
Jets is a force of nature which whips any mental baggage away and 
makes you feel. Sometimes it is uncomfortable, sometimes it is 
pleasurable but it always makes you feel something. There are days 
where that is required. Another Green World is a bridge between the 
first couple of albums and the later ambient works. It feels relaxed 
and yet challenges the listener. I found that the album removed the 
feeling of hopelessness and enabled me to feel like I could move. In 
some ways, Another Green World is the precision tool to Here Come the 
Warm Jets' blunt force sledge hammer. Well for mood shifting anyway! 
Eno's ambient works are also worth investigating but only if you are 
doing things. Discrete Music is a nice album to work to and does lead 
to thoughts. Eno's schtick has always been about the process rather 
than the end result. His ambient works have a fascinating process 
which helps make the end product paletable. He is certainly an 
interesting creative character who I sort of want to meet and sort of 
don't. I get the feeling he might be a smug git who goes into great 
depth about the art of creating. Although I also think he is a genuine 
person who seems kind and interesting. Alternatively, just listen to 
the music and enjoy it!