I was back in London, and back in Soho. My friend James was meeting up for a drink and to see a comedy perfomance at the Soho Theatre (Paul Currie, it was good, and very silly, and I like silly) but I was down a bit early after spending the day with my dad (which involved carrying sixteen bottles of Lucozade for him back from Iceland) (the shop not the country, though it may as well have been). A train strike which I didn’t know about made it harder for my friend James to get into London from Hemel (as it did for my old friend Francesco the next day, visiting from Leighton Buzzard; Britain has been beset with train strikes lately, I hear) so after sketching, I waited for him at The Ship, one of my favourite old pubs on Wardour Street, a few steps from here. I was actually freezing cold sketching out on the street, despite it being May and not too inclement. I was sketching on Broadwick Street, drawing an old record shop on the corner of Duck Lane that I’ve passed loads of times but never actually sketched before (nor in fact shopped in before, to my knowledge, what with not being in a place to bring records back to America that I won’t listen to, though I should spend some time in here next time). Sounds Of The Universe (https://soundsoftheuniverse.com) is an incredible name for a record shop, and they also run an independent record label out of here called Soul Jazz Records. I am so out of it when it comes to music these days, I wish I were a knowledgeable hip music listener but I’m just not. I spent a lot of time in Soho record shops when I was a teenager, but I’m a middle aged man living in Davis California now, I’m a lot less cool. Though I think I’m pretty cool with my sketchbook don’t I. I enjoyed drawing this. The pavement here is very narrow so people passing by had me scooching into the doorway a little, but that’s sketching Soho for you, that’s the experience. Across the street outside the Blue Posts, a pub I’ve draw two or three times, a bunch of suited men drinking were loudly reminding me that I don’t miss everything about Soho, but it’s all part of the fun. This particular stretch of Soho was always one of my favourites, though things have changed so much. Cowling and Wilcox the art shop is no longer there, a place I always came for pens and paints. The Ship is still here though, and when my shivering got too shaky I decided I’d done enough to this sketch, and moved into the warmth of that pub for a nice pint of London Pride (at room temperature, as it is). The Ship is still great. I snuck into a seat near the bogs to wait for my friend, and sketched some people quickly in my little book while I waited (the guy with the beard was a nice Aussie bloke with some friends, he was very pleased with the sketch). James came along, we had a really fun evening, the Paul Currie show was silly (I am still humming “I’ve Got Panda Hands” to the theme tune of Jurassic Park even now), a good night out in Soho. Welcome back to London. More to come.