Solidarity

The other night, I ran into a friend who had just suffered a split from his long-time girlfriend.... and was consequently drinking himself into a coma. What could I do but offer a supportive, manly hug..... and match him shot for shot?

Then we smoked some spliffs, which made us feel a lot better. (Well, it made me feel better; and he was putting up a good show.) And then we went to Jianghu, again. Xinjiang party band Hummingbird were on (I picture them as kids, Uyghur goatherds in the middle of nowhere probably, being given a CD of The Buena Vista Social Club by an indulgent tourist, and conceiving the dream of moving to Beijing and becoming a showband specialising in Latin jazz. Crazy, incongruous stuff like this happens all the time in China!), and they always draw a good crowd. The inevitable post-gig jam session was threatening to go on all night.

Around 2am or so, a subconscious impulse of self-preservation took over (I have had such a draining week at work), and I went home. I had left the bar to spend a penny (you have to use the public loos 200 yards up the alley), but found my feet automatically turning the other way, towards the main road. Most nights I walk home from there, but on Friday I found every fibre in my exhausted body craving a taxi, so..... It's only a ride of 5 minutes or so, but I still managed to doze off for a moment.

Damn, Jianghu is definitely becoming a significant focus of my life; indeed, it is threatening to become 'a place of adventures'.....