w.atching the w.orld unw.ind

Friday night saw us 90'ing it (sorry, Officer) down to Pompey (Portsmouth) to see the re-scheduled Finn brothers' gig, which had been postponed because of the suicide of their former drummer, Paul Hester (Hessie).

From the opening bars of "Nothing wrong with you" they had the audience transfixed, but you've got to hand it to Pompey fans, they don't stand in awe of stars. After a particularly rumbustious rocking number, someone called out "Oi! You bin practisin'?"

Tim announced that it was July '81 when he'd last played Portsmouth's Guildhall. "How did you remember that?" asked Neil. "Someone slipped a note under the door" Tim replied.
"So what was the lad's name?" teased Neil. The slur went over Tim's head but the audience and the rest of the band picked up immediately. "Bastard son?" explained Neil.

When "Four seasons" was dedicated to Hessie, Neil ordered the PA to be turned off and, just keeping the beat on his guitar, had the audience sing the whole song back to him. To say it was an emotional moment would just be the greatest understatement...

I was only disappointed that they didn't perform "Dust from a distant sun". Ever my favourite track, its title indirectly led me to this lovely lady's original blog and thence into blogging myself. Strange thing, music.

Then on Saturday, we made our first two UK dives of the year. 12 kilos (26.4lb) of lead and a 15-litre tank do not make for an elegant walk across the sand down to the boat. Believe me.

The Far Mulberry is a 6,000 ton, 60 foot long concrete caisson which was used for target practice by the Navy and when it finally sank, became a protected area. So it's possible to swim inside a huge 'bait-ball' of fish which are undisturbed by trawling or anglers.

It takes about twenty minutes to lap, so we managed three tours. Great fun, even though the temperature at 12 metres was about 11 degrees Centigrade. In a semi-dry wetsuit (great oxymoron, that) the idea is that a small amount of water is deliberately allowed in, which your body then warms up and insulates you from the cold. Inevitably, though, you get the odd fresh 'trickle' which is like someone briefly turning off the hot water while you're in the shower. 'Invigorating' is a good word for the sensation. 'Bloody freezing' is also apt.

On the way back to shore, in the very fast rib (rigid inflatable boat) someone spotted a dolphin, so the pilot slowed the boat and turned about, to let the dolphin come alongside, breaching the water close enough for us to have been able to reach over and touch it, then dashing under the bows to treat the divers on the other side to a display of finning we'd love to emulate. Not sure what type it was, but it looked like a bottle-nose?

The second dive was a so-called drift dive, where you literally 'go with the flow', over fossil beds. I saw, for the first time ever, a cuttlefish, which was so perfectly camouflaged, my buddy took three looks to spot it when I pointed it out. It jet-propelled itself away when we got too close. And a huge eating crab completed the 'live show'. Unfortunately it scuttled back into its lair before we could snaffle it from behind. Would've made a tasty sandwich, though.